


The Underground

by Antopops



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Blood, Character Death, Fighting, M/M, Multi, Slow Build, Swearing, Violence, mafia!au, underground crime, underground organizations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-04-14 12:11:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 60,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4564197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antopops/pseuds/Antopops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren is the best agent in the Military Police, and the Military Police is the only thing standing between the corrupted Capital and a society free from the corrupt. When a secret organization called The Underground rises up and threatens to destroy the Capital and the Military Police along with it, it's up to Eren to find out why and put a stop to it. Of course, this is all accompanied by firefights and asshole gang members.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Meet Eren, 24 year old smart ass who can take a lot of bullets

There comes a time in every kid's life where they contemplate doing something stupid. A lot of the time it’s a one time deal. Other times, you get caught in the current and keep doing bad things. No amount of chastising could pull me back from how far I’d drifted down the “you-fucked-up” stream.

Taking jobs like this was no big deal. Infiltrate, locate the target, seduce (occasionally), and exterminate. Sounds real badass when I put it like that, but that’s how Shadis had drilled into my head since age 12. This job, however, had taken a turn for “shit-I-fucked-up” once my cover was blown. How? I don’t know. What I _did_ know was that I had sprinted from the inside of the Bolton Manor to evade capture and was now speeding down the back alley’s on my motorcycle with guys shooting at me.

It was hard enough to concentrate on not getting shot as I maneuvered my bike around turns, but dealing with Shadis shouting at me in my ear piece wasn’t helping.

“What the hell, Jaeger?! I swear if you end up dying ‘cause of this I’ll kill you myself!”

“With all due respect Shadis, now isn’t the best time.” The end of my sentence cut off as my bike nearly slipped out from under me. I righted it as it continued to speed through the alley and heard more bullets whiz past me.

“Just get yourself _and_ the package out of there! Failure is not an option, not today.”

“Noted.” I growled back at him. The screeching of car wheels behind me got more intense as the twists and turns got sharper. I cast a quick glance over my shoulder to see two guys in the back of the closest car leaning out with guns aimed at me. I laughed loudly, promising myself a scotch on the rocks if I made it out of this unscathed.

Finally the main road came into view, and I was almost relieved at seeing people out strolling the streets. Then again, these guys could be heartless bastards and continue firing at the risk of casualties. I revved the motor and sped up, gaining distance between us with much gratitude. I heard more shots behind me, and then screams. People ahead of me on the sidewalks ducked down for cover.

Bastards then.

I needed to find a way out, I wasn’t getting anywhere with these guys riding my ass shooting at me. I had to get the chip back to HQ and I couldn’t do that dead. Jerking the motorcycle to the right began my (or should I say _our)_ descent into rocky and muddy territory.

My bike was not a dirt bike; I bitterly reminded myself of that and made an effort to avoid breaking the precious baby that I’d had for years. I pulled my bike up as I came down off a ledge and cut through the small stream that ran through the tiny forested area. I screamed in anger as mud splashed around me, knowing it’d be hell trying to get the stains out of my jacket. On the ear piece Shadis was yelling for an update, questioning my screams.

“These guys don’t give up!” I laughed as I turned and drove up the rocky hill, finding the road again and taking off. I looked behind me again and saw no cars, meaning my last minute thinking was a success. I made it another 40 feet when I heard a bang and a burning sensation in my right arm. I screamed but didn’t lose control, forcing my arm to remain where it was and keep the bike steady as I kept driving. I looked behind me, and saw a short statured man pointing a gun my way. He had a smirk on his face and his eyes glinted in the light of the moon.

“Eren? Give us intel, what the hell is going on?”

“I’m clear, pursuers aren’t in range.” I turned away from the armed man and gritted my teeth against the pain coming from my arm.

“What was that scream then?”

_Ugh, shit_. “I’m pretty sure I have a bullet lodged in my arm somewhere but I’m planning on getting back to HQ before I faint.” I was teasing him of course, but he still grumbled on the other end.

“You’re one of my best agents Eren, don’t get yourself killed.”

I made it to HQ in record time, and my bike rumbled appreciatively at the attention received tonight. Confidently I strode through the automatic doors that led to HQ’s main hub. Shadis was in front of the large TV monitor that depicted the city layout, and seemed to be issuing commands to a few recruits rather violently. They scurried off and he turned his attention to me.

“Do you have to eat every newbie alive? Your bitch face is kind of scarring.” He ignored the comment, taking off down the hall with me at his tail.

“Did you get it?”

I shrugged. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. I did get shot you know. It hurts. Protocol says to come to you first before the medic, can you believe that?”

Shadis whirled around and yanked me forward by the front of my jacket, glaring daggers into my very soul. “This is serious Jaeger. There’s more riding on that chip than you can ever possibly know. Now did. You. Get it?” He spat as he enunciated the last bit of the sentence. He continued to stare me down and I took it as a challenge, doing the same to him for a solid minute until I relented. I produced the tiny data chip from my pocket and shoved it in his palm.

“You’re right though; I dunno if getting shot was worth all the bullshit I have to deal with now.” I spun on my heel and strode down the hall to the infirmary. I heard Shadis call to me, voice laced with annoyance and slight regret at having been an ass. He knew more about me than I cared to admit, and I’d been with him and the Military Police longer than any other recruit. Anyone who’d been around when I was admitted to the agency was either or dead or… well dead. Joining the Military Police was a decision that stuck with you for life. There was no backing out; too many secrets at risk to let people leave on a whim. Lucky for me, I never really minded the job. Unless old, grumpy, assholes were shoving me around all demanding.

The infirmary was mostly empty except for the head nurse Petra and two other women chatting absent mindedly behind the counter. When Petra saw me a pleasant expression settled over her features, followed by confusion. I was too skilled to end up in the hospital on a regular basis which left her a bundle of nerves when I did come in.

“Oh god, Eren, you’re bleeding all over the floor!” she exclaimed, pointing at the floor. I realized that yes, in fact, I was. The gaping wound was dripping blood off my elbow and I hadn’t even noticed.

“Shit.” The injury didn’t stop Petra from smacking me with her clipboard.

“Language, young man.” She steered me into the first room and had me painfully shrug off my (now ruined) leather jacket, along with my t-shirt. Silently she inspected the wound and settled into a seemingly typical routine of gathering gauze and medical plyers. The bullet was plucked out quickly, wound cleaned, and then wrapped.

“I thought you were more careful than this Eren,” she’d finally said after ten minutes of silence. “It’s not like you to get hurt out in the field.”

“It’s not that big a deal, I’m not invincible.”

“You certainly act like it with your high and mighty ego. That and you’re built like Superman or something.” My face heated up at that and I averted my gaze to a spot on the wall over Petra’s shoulder. She smirked to herself and got up to put the materials back.

She continued, “Well you’ll live. Doctor’s recommendation is go home and take a day off; killing things has to be tiresome after a while.”

Pulling my shirt over my head I laughed. “You get used to it.” When I looked back at her there was a lingering sadness in the way she stared at me. I’d seen it before, when I was first brought into the agency. Petra never failed to toot her horn as the pity party president, and though she meant well it was irritating sometimes. I grabbed my jacket and gave her my thanks, then left the building.

The Military Police was an organization that had been around for a long time. And I’m not being cryptic, that’s all Shadis would tell me when I’d asked. Their main purpose was to monitor illegal happenings throughout the Shiganshina District and report any unusual findings to the capital. Lately however, an underground group had risen up and began attacking Military recruits, facilities, anything, _mercilessly._ Dead agents were popping up left and right, so naturally, Shadis took action and tracked down a member of the opposing party to Bolton Manor two miles outside the city.

That’s where I came in; infiltrate the Manor and locate the date chip Shadis had _somehow_ found out about then bring it back. There were a lot of secrets being kept from me, which I found personally insulting knowing how long I’d been with Shadis. The chance of highly confidential information was likely to be in the chip, hence Shadis’ urgency to get it back.

My helmet was shoved loosely over my head since I lived 15 minutes away from HQ tops. By the time I pulled up I was groggy and officially cranky. I was tempted to collapse on the floor of my kitchen as soon as I walked in and kicked off my shoes, but I remembered I’d promised myself scotch on the rocks.

It was a treat yo self kinda night anyways. I’d been shot for fucks sake.

Drink in hand I flopped on to the tiny couch and sighed with content. Sipping my drink slowly, I replayed everything that had happened that day. I’d neglected to tell Shadis my gun was no longer around; some black tux wearing sonuvabitch had knocked it from my hands in my attempt to escape. The whole situation made me angry. I was sloppy today, the mission nearly failed because my position had been compromised. Though it made no sense, everything was secure from moment ‘A’ yet everything still went to shit.

Not only that, the interior of Bolton Manor offered little to no idea as to who the hell was behind this runt of an organization. Whoever they were, I wished them luck for when Shadis found them.  

Sighing I finished off my drink quickly and hauled my sorry ass upstairs, not bothering to pull on sweats. Within the hour, I’d already passed out.

 

*****

 

I woke up at the asscrack of dawn when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I’d forgotten to take it out and charge it the night before, and I rolled over to fish it out of my pocket. Connie’s name illuminated the screen and I had half a mind to hit ignore.

I put the phone to my ear instead. “Do you have any fucking idea what time it is?” I heard him laugh on the other end and I rolled my eyes irritably.

“Shake it off dude. Shadis told me to let you know you have the day off.”

A sudden burst of laughter escaped my lips, stirring me to sit up. “His conscience is nagging him. He was a dick yesterday.”

“Shadis is always a dick.”

“Touche.”

“Anyways-” something broke on the other end, and I heard muffled shouting. “Sasha knock it off! I have 4 plates left now!”

Smirking as I made my way to the kitchen, I asked “What’s Sasha doing over?”

Connie grumbled. “Shut the fuck up Eren, it’s not like that. I might hang up now and not invite you out to hang on your day off.”

“What makes you think I’d even want to come over? Maybe I’ve got shit to do.”

More yelling ensued on the other end and eventually Connie’s voice was in the distance as Sasha yelled at him to chill. Her voice replaced his and she said, “Eren you’re a workaholic. Take a break from killing people and stealing things to have a drink or something.”

I laughed quietly, pouring some coffee into the only decent uncracked mug I owned. “If you insist. I’ll be over later.”

“Connie, he said he’d come!” There was muffled cursing and questioning as to why I wouldn’t agree when he’d first asked. “I dunno, you’re just a bitter old baby about everything. Anyways, catch you later Eren!”

I ended the call and dropped my phone on to the counter. Maybe I’d stop by HQ on the way; an excuse to talk to Shadis about the suicide mission he’d sent me on yesterday. Or maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe I’d just go to Connie’s and drink myself into a stupor.

I liked that idea better.

 

*****

 

Two hours later I was sitting on Connie’s couch, beer in my hand and a scowl on my face. I hadn’t realized the invitation to come over had extended to literally everyone, so as usual, I was biting my tongue. Jean had arrived before me which set my tolerance bar dangerously low for everyone else who was bound to show up. I’d taken control of the remote much to Jean’s dismay, and kept it on the basketball game for the past twenty minutes.

Marco had shown up after me, which got Jean off my ass. The Three Musketeers, also known as Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt had followed suit. Armin came only when Sasha put the phone to my ear and all but forced me to convince him to leave work. Armin was the only person who took his job in IT for the Military Police seriously.

Annie’s hand was suddenly shoved in my face, a joint gripped in her fingers. I looked at her and she raised her eyebrows, her silent offering still an inch from my face.

“Uh, no thanks.” She shrugged and brought the joint to her lips, continuing on as per usual.

I had plenty of shitty habits. I’d made an effort to avoid adding others to the list.

“So Eren, do tell how you managed to fuck up your mission yesterday.” Jean said, a coy grin taking up half his big head.

“Fuck off, dude. I didn’t fuck it up, intel dropped the ball. My cover was blown before I’d even found the chip.”

“But you still managed to retrieve the information?” chidded Armin. His blue eyes were wide with interest suddenly.

“Yeah. Wasn’t easy, I got shot for Christ sake. But our dear Director Shadis was satisfied.” I took a swig of my beer as Armin and Sasha erupted into a chorus of ‘you’re amazing’s and ’no wonder Shadis loves you’s. Jean’s grin disappeared once the praise started.

We spent the next hour like that; me retelling exactly what had happened in Bolton Manor and everyone listening keenly. Even Jean seemed into it. Armin looked puzzled by the time I was finished and when I questioned him about it, he only shook his head and waved me off. It was a little past six when I decided to head home, but not before Annie pulled me aside in the kitchen to stare me down.

“Eren, you know Shadis never messes up with this stuff. Agent protection is a top priority when you go undercover.”

“You think I don’t know that?” I asked incredulously. Seriously? Out of everyone in the Military Police _I’d_ been around longest. I had no idea why Annie thought she was doing me a favor telling me shit I already knew.

“Eren I don’t think you’re seeing the big picture. Shadis _never_ messes up. In part because his massive shitlord ego would implode but also because MP security is best. If there was a breach it was because he was careless or he intended it. And he’s _never_ careless.”

Sure, I wanted to believe her. But did she even realize what she was suggesting? “Are you saying _he_ blew my cover?”

She turned away from me and pulled a cigarette out of her pocket, lighting it and glancing back at me after she exhaled. “I’m not saying anything for now Eren, but I intend to look into it. I’m not putting my trust in an organization that screws over its own people.” And with that, she strode out of Connie’s house with Reiner and Bertholdt at her heels.

Her warning taunted me all the way home. My tiny Camero seemed to get smaller the more I thought about the possibility of Shadis turning against his own agents. The distant sound of Alicia Keys had me tapping my fingers on the steering wheel methodically. I rolled up to a red light and sat there deep in thought, unaware of the black SUV speeding towards me.

My car lurched forward when the SUV hit. My back windows and rear windshield shattered on impact and my neck snapped back against my seat, leaving unable to move for a second from the pain.

_There’s a bad case of whiplash to deal with in the morning_. When I picked my head up (albeit painfully) I was ready to rip whoever’d hit me a new asshole, but I froze when I saw who was nearing my door. I didn’t have much time to look but he had black hair parted down the middle and steely grey eyes. It was the same guy who’d shot me the previous day waltzing up to my car, gun in hand followed by two other guys in suits.

“Oh fuck.” I didn’t bother to wait for them to greet me at the wheel. I stepped on the gas and cringed as the wheels skidded for a second before complying. The black haired guy jerked back in surprise before leveling his weapon with my car and fired a few shots. Immediately the ‘Low Air Pressure’ gage popped up and indicated my back wheels were gonna be flat. Soon.

I knew it wasn’t safe to go home, but it was the closest place to go I had and my car was about to be out of service. My car started slowing down as I was halfway down my block and I ditched it there. I was only going to grab weapons and my ear piece to patch in HQ.

I hastily unlocked the front door and barreled inside, snatching my still soiled leather jacket and throwing it on while I made my way upstairs. On my bedside table was my earpiece, and I quickly put that in and began searching for the HQ network via my phone. Right as the connection was met, my bedroom windows shattered and the noise was accompanied by bullets drilling themselves into the walls of my house.

“Fuck!” I dove back, crawling on all fours out of my bedroom and taking cover in the extra room I’d essentially called my office just because there was a desk inside. I could hear voices through my earpiece and I tried to clear up the connection while fishing for the gun I kept strapped under the desk.

“...-ren? Eren?! This is your ID calling in-” It was Shadis, but only for a split second. The connection cut out and I had the sinking feeling it wasn’t due to bad connection.

“Mr. Jaeger!” A deep voice from my front yard called out over a megaphone. “Currently, you are surrounded. Any and all hope of contacting your headquarters is futile, as we are jamming your lines. Give yourself up peacefully and within the next ten seconds and we might consider not pumping you full of lead.”

Oh _hell_ no. No one gave me sass on my own property. I carefully made my way back into my bedroom and peered over the shattered window ledge as the voice started counting down from ten. There were about eight SUV’s camped on my lawn. Literally, not a single one bothered utilizing the street. For each car were four or five men wearing suits of varying colors with guns pointed at my house. The man who had been speaking to me was a broad shouldered blond guy with a smug look plastered on his face.

Without thinking I jumped up and shot the man behind the blond, and he fell back as blood spewed from the shot in his head. I was the best for a reason.

Blondie had only been at number four with counting down, but stopped when the goon behind him had dropped dead. He looked mildly amused but his look turned stormy as he glared up at my bedroom window.

“Impressive, Eren. Unfortunately this means your time is up.” He tossed the megaphone over his shoulder and gestured to the house. Bullets began flying again and I knew it was time to bolt. I’d have to hope they hadn’t all crowded into my hallway yet as I raced down the stairs. I ran through the kitchen and grabbed my helmet, crying out when I felt one of the bullets hit my side. I didn’t have time to check for damage, I just knew I had to get out of here.

There was a side door that led into my garage and I slipped through, saddling my motorcycle and revving the engine. I drove it through the kitchen and out the already open front door. As I rode through the clusterfuck of cars and gunmen there were shouts of indignation and a frustrated blond man shouting “Shoot him, goddammit!” And shoot me they did.

I knew I must have been grazed at least twice and along with that previous shot in my side, there was another bullet now lodged in my hip. It hurt like a motherfucker but I bit my tongue and rode straight for HQ. Annie’s warning rang clear in my head. _I’m not putting my trust in an organization that screws over it’s own people_. I’d have to keep my faith planted firmly in Shadis, ‘cause he was all I had for now.

The further I got from my house the better the connection in my earpiece got as well. Eventually I heard Shadis’ raspy old voice yelling for the tech’s to send out word to all agents to bring their asses into base.

“One of these days you’ll get so angry you actually pop an _important_ blood vessel. Then we’re all screwed.”

“Eren!” he said. “What the hell, kid? You call in and all I hear are guns going off? Then I get word from Reiner that Bertholdt took a bullet to the head and he was attacked too, the hell is this?”

“Wait, what?” _Bertholdt was dead?_

“I won’t tell you anymore over an unsecure channel so get your ass back to HQ. Armin, Connie, and Sasha are already here. Jean and Marco are on their way but I got no faith they’ll make it in one piece if Kirschtein is driving.”

I probably made it there faster than ever, the adrenaline racing through my body muting the pain I should have been feeling from being shot so many times. I clamped my hand down firmly over the shot in my side which was of little concern to me at the moment. What can I say, I’m stubborn as hell. I burst into Shadis’ office and Armin was at my side in an instant before I could ask any questions.

“Eren! You were shot!” He ushered me down into a seat and helped me carefully peel away my jacket.

“Bertholdt was killed?” I asked Shadis right away. He nodded grimly and stood up from the seat behind his desk.

“He, Reiner, and Annie were heading home from Connie’s I believe when they were rammed. Annie bolted, she hasn’t called in, just ran according to Reiner. He got here two minutes before you. Bertholdt was driving and was knocked unconscious. They gunned him down while Reiner made a run for it.”

Anger pooled in my stomach. Or was it the pain from the bullet? Most likely both. Reiner had just left Bertholdt there to die? What the fuck was wrong with him?

“I know what you’re thinking Eren. Don’t. There was nothing he could have done, he was shot too. He was lucky to make it out of there alive.”

I just assumed he was being treated by Petra at the moment and avoided talking about it anymore. It sucked Bertholdt was dead, but I’d seen enough recruits come and go in a matter of months. I shouldn’t have taken this death any differently. “What the hell happened Shadis? How did these people know where to attack us? How did they know who we even were?” I winced as Armin prodded at my arm where I was grazed and he mumbled a half hearted sorry but went right back to work.

“That data chip I had you recover from Bolton Manor was a list of all our operatives. Names, pictures, addresses, everything any underground organization would want to take us out. You retrieved it, but it seems they’d already gone through it.”

“How did they get that kind of information? There’s got to be a mole.”

Shadis looked away and scratched the back of his neck and shrugged, an attempt to make himself look smaller and less guilty. I knew how to read people, he was the one who taught me. “I dunno, kid. But they got the list and now everyone tied back to this place is fucked. Which is why,” he smoothly reached into his waistband and pulled out his glock. “I’m wiping out every last agent here.”

I didn’t feel the shot at first, but Armin screamed and fell backwards staring at my shoulder. When I looked down there was a large, spreading bloodstain seeping through my shirt. I tried to say something but only wheezed. That just triggered the pain; white hot, searing pain through my shoulder and down my right arm. _How many times had I been shot now?_

“Shadis-” Connie started, aligning himself in front of Sasha who sat with her head buried in her hands, shaking.

“Don’t say anything, Connie. I wouldn’t expect you to understand, or any of you.”

“Why?” I managed to say through clenched teeth.

“This new group, call themselves The Underground. They want to overthrow the Capital, end this ridiculous power play that’s lasted for decades. I want that too.” He pointed his gun at Armin and cocked it to the side, making Armin reel back and press his back against the cabinet. “Only problem; I’m the head of a very important Capital organization. You see? Same goals, only I was dealt the best hand. So I joined up with them, gave them the information they needed.”

“Why…” Shit, it was getting harder to focus. “Why send me after them? Why try getting the data back?”

“I won’t lie to you Eren. In part I wanted you to die if possible, it would have made my job easier. But I was also sloppy with the data chip. It could have undoubtedly been traced back to me. If there was a small chance I could have received the chip and destroyed evidence the Capital could have used against me, I would take that chance.”

“So I was just some pawn you used to clear your name?” Bastard.

“Don’t act offended now Eren. This is your job, you’ve been thrown into the thick of things like this before. This time isn’t any different.”

“Of course it’s different. You’re a traitor! Bertholdt is dead because of you!” I was beyond pissed, but the gunshots were catching up with me. I’d lost a lot of blood and things were getting hazy.

Shadis sighed and tapped the barrel of his gun against his leg, like he was thinking. “Yeah, he is. But he was just one agent out of many.”

Shadis looked down at me, almost with pity, then lifted the gun. “You were good, Eren. It sucks this is how things have to work out, but sometimes being devoted to your job isn’t all that great. If I thought I had a chance to change your views maybe I wouldn’t have to kill you. But you and I both know that’s not gonna happen.”

A shot rang through the room, and Shadis jerked sideways, gun arm dropping abruptly as he clutched his left shoulder. Annie stood in the doorway, her own gun leveled steadily at Shadis’ head.

“I knew it.” was all she said before she pulled the trigger and Shadis toppled back, dead.

As soon as he was out of the way, Armin was back at my side applying pressure to two of the three wounds. “Crap, Sasha _help me!_ ”

It probably wasn’t looking good for me, I felt numbness and pain on different parts of my body. Armin’s hands were ridiculously blood soaked when he pulled away to take of his sweater and ball it up. He then pressed it into my side and I could barely manage a moan, I was so weak.

Annie strode over to Shadis’ desk and picked up the phone, dialing a number and saying something to someone on the other end with the most stoic expression I’d seen her wear yet. I vaguely saw her lips mouth the name ‘Petra’ before I was seeing little black dots dancing in the corner of my eyes.

“Just hang on Eren, we’re getting you help! Just hold on.” Whether Armin was reassuring me or himself I couldn’t tell. The pain was increasingly driving me mad and I prayed to whatever higher power possibly existed to _please let me pass out_. Eventually I was answered, and I gave up on keeping my eyes open at the same time Petra arrived, telling me to hold on. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things can only get worse before they get better

In the hours following Shadis getting his head shot off by Annie, it was eerily quiet. Only a few technicians and agents were inside aside from myself when Shadis had revealed his betrayal. Yet word traveled fast, and for reasons unknown a lot of people showed up at HQ despite it being past ten.

Regardless of the number of people inside, no one spoke. In terms of myself, I was in so much of a drug induced state that I couldn’t rationally think anything. Armin stayed with me throughout everything, hands firmly planted at my side where his bunched up sweater was pressed against me. I vaguely remembered waking up at one point and seeing Petra, reaching for her even though it hurt. I just felt the need to hold something and feel it, to know it was real. After everything tonight I just wanted to know something solid was around me.

Armin took my outstretched hand and gently placed it across my stomach, patting my arm. “It’ll be alright, Eren.”

I knew it would be. But even after being betrayed, shot, chased, and who knows what else, I was worried about everyone who _wasn’t_ me. Bertholdt was dead, and for some reason I felt responsible. Reiner had lost his best friend and, if my hunch over the past three years was correct, his boyfriend. Annie I hadn’t gotten a good look at, and Connie and Sasha were probably huddled together working their way through panic attacks. I didn’t need to see them to know that.

I stared at the ceiling, attempting to count the dots in the cheap plaster that lined the hospital wing of HQ. It was all I could do to keep myself occupied. My throat felt like I’d swallowed sandpaper, and my whole body was on fire. Petra had reassured me that I was given as much pain anesthetic as was allowed, but I had to tread lightly in case overdose was even possible. I was 24 and 170 pounds, overdose was unlikely to happen. But I refrained from taking some morphine and injecting it into my leg all the same.

I’d reached number 243 of the plaster holes when a light knock came from the doorway. Reiner stood slouched, leaning against the frame with dark circles around his eyes. He didn’t look good, and his arm was in a sling with a thick bandage taped to his shoulder. Must’ve been where he’d gotten shot.

“Hey Reiner.” Christ, I sounded like I’d swallowed a handful of rocks. I cleared my throat at the same time Reiner made his way over to the chair next to my bed. Armin had occupied it for the past four hours but at my request, he’d finally gone to get himself some food.

“Eren. How you holding up?” He also sounded like shit.

I shrugged even though it sent a sharp pain down my left arm. “Holding. Think I broke a record for getting shot though.”

Reiner smirked at that but it faded quickly. To be honest, I didn’t know why he was here. I knew he’d just lost Bertholdt and if anything, I was a reminder that he hadn’t been as lucky. Or maybe he just wanted to talk. I didn’t know.

“Eren I have to ask,” he started, finally making eye contact with me. “Did you see this coming? At all?”

I knew why he was asking but a jolt of anger still surged through me. Willing myself to stay calm, I directed my answer at the wall instead of looking at Reiner. “No, I didn’t. I kinda got thrown into this whole situation ass first in case you forgot.”

He seemed to consider this and scratched his chin, the bags under his eyes having seemingly gotten deeper in a matter of seconds. It didn’t take a top secret agent trained in reading body language to tell he was dealing with some serious internal turmoil, but I decided to let him work it out himself either way.

“I’m sorry if you think I’m attacking you Eren. You got fucked over, just like me. We all did. I just figured you knew Shadis the best and maybe…” he trailed off.

“Maybe I knew why he just threw everything into the metaphorical trash can?” When Reiner nodded, I continued. “I thought I knew him too. Not like a father figure, just… I dunno. He’s been around as long as I can remember, I don’t know what changed. I never noticed a change. Guess you don’t know people as well as you think you do sometimes.”

He only nodded quietly, unmoving and expressionless. I didn’t know what to say, so I let us both sit in the silence a few minutes longer. There was truth to what I’d said, more so to having been thrown by Shadis’ betrayal. It wasn’t like I ever held him to high expectations like some idol, but Shadis was a proud man who always took his position as Military Police chief seriously. And his talk about the MP being corrupt? What the hell had he meant by that? We’d done good work and shut down more criminal organizations than I could remember. This new one, suddenly made him falter. And now he was dead because of it.

My train of thought left me once Petra walked in accompanied by Armin, who had two cups of something steaming in each hand. His smile got brighter once he saw me awake, and I couldn’t help but return it in spite of everything.

“Eren, how are you feeling?” Petra asked, glancing from my chart back to me. Her hair was disheveled, strands hanging in front of her face, and her overall complexion was pale. Everything that happened must’ve taken a lot out of her.

“I’m alright,” I lied. Truth be told I was sore all over, and she picked up on my lack of honesty.

“Nice try, Eren. I’m going to need you to rate on a scale of one to ten so I can decide how much longer to keep you on painkillers.” She looked at me expectantly and I shifted in place, taking notice at how my side throbbed more than my shoulder.

“Seven,” I finally decided. She scribbled something down before speaking again, eyes still trained on her clipboard.

“Considering you’re one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting, Eren, I’m going to trust you can suppress the urge I _know_ you have to run home and promise to sit still until I think you’re fit to leave. You lost a lot of blood and there’s a few psychological tests I’d like to run-”

“Sorry Doc, but humor me; how long will all this take?” I really didn’t want to be in the hospital for longer than a few days at most, but knowing Petra she’d try to pull strings to keep me here longer.

“In general I want you here for the rest of the week.”

 _Fuck, I knew it_. “Alright,” I relented quickly, not wanting her to pile on security outside my door right away. The look she gave me told me she didn’t believe me in the slightest but she said nothing nonetheless. A few more warnings on her part and _many_ more reassurances on mine and she finally left, dragging Reiner with her. He gave me a quick, pained smile before disappearing out the door. Armin quickly took the seat Reiner had been occupying and handed me one of the cups of… coffee.

Oh, sweet Jesus I could have kissed Armin in that moment.

I took a lengthy sip and sighed happily, letting my head fall back against the mound of pillows behind me. Armin readjusted himself so he was sitting criss crossed before turning his full attention to me. “So, how are you _really?”_

“Really fucking sore,” I answered right away. “And surprised. And confused. I’m a lot of things right now.”

His massive blue eyes narrowed in pitiful understanding, and he drank some of his own coffee, readjusting his glasses. “I get that. You had no idea about any of this?”

I couldn’t help the harsh glare I shot his way, but he didn’t flinch or back down, only shrugged.

“Makes some sense that you might have known.”

“How does that make sense? People died, Armin.”

“Only one person died; Bertholdt. You almost did, it’s a miracle you didn’t. I’m just trying to put the pieces together.”

I set my coffee down on the table next to me and drew my legs up a little, ignoring the sharp pain that registered in my stomach from where I’d been shot. “The only ‘piece’ is that random group Shadis sent me to. Sure, it was all a ploy to get me killed, but whatever the hell those fuckers said is what got him to turn on us. They’re the reason Bertholdt is dead, and they’re the people we need to find to get answers.”

“It’s not that easy Eren. There’s absolutely no information on this group at all in Shadis’ office or anywhere. We know they’re called ‘The Underground’ but we don’t know who exactly they are. Some rogue faction within Trost is the most likely but if it’s true then we should be worried if their influence can reach people like Shadis. There’s more to this than we know.”

I threw my hands up in surrender and groaned. “Fine, you’re right I’m wrong. Maybe the Military Police really is corrupt and there’s some secret organization trying to take it down and everything I’ve ever known my entire life is a lie. What do we do?”

At that, Armin stood up and adjusted his sweater, taking his time to respond. He took another long sip of his coffee and flashed me a quick and relatively condescending grin. “Right now, what you get to do is rest. No hero antics, just sit here and get better.”

Oh, of-fucking-course. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” He made his way to the door and stopped right before leaving. The look he gave me was one completely different from the joking grin he’d had on previously. “Be careful with this, Eren. Something tells me things could go South with this real fast if we’re not careful.”

I nodded acknowledgingly and watched him walk down the hall and disappear out the front door. Suddenly I was incredibly tired, and my coffee had no appeal anymore. I didn’t want to sleep, not when there was so much to consider and plan. Armin had wanted me to get better, so I would. I couldn’t just do nothing.

But right now all I could do was comply with my aching body and shut my eyes, hoping that whatever was to come next wouldn’t be as God-awful as today.

 

*****

 

I’d like to say I got enough sleep that night, but unfortunately Petra was unknowingly determined to wake me up as many times as possible. First it was a blood test at three o’clock in the morning, which then turned into a half assed psych evaluation. After I was deemed mentally stable I was allowed to sleep again, which only lasted a blissful two hours before I was woken up yet again at five when I pulled my stitches in my side.

“I thought I told you not to do anything reckless.” Petra scolded, her eyes narrowed at my side as she re-did my stitches.

“I don’t recall those exact words coming out of your mouth, Doc.” The needle poked me abruptly and I gasped and arched my back away from her. “Wow, attacking the unarmed patient.”

She only hummed in amusement before pulling me back towards her and finishing the stitches, wiping away the blood surrounding the wound with some gauze.

Eventually I passed back out after an hour of figuring out how to sleep without tearing myself open again. It was around ten in the morning when I finally woke up with the smell of eggs wafting in my face.

“Figured you could use a pick me up,” Sasha said in a stiff tone. Connie reached around her and handed me a small bottle of liquor and winked. Homemade eggs and booze, the perfect morning.

“Thanks, guys.” I brought myself to eat a few bites of the eggs with them there while they rambled on about securing HQ after the incident, but I had no appetite and unfortunately the food tasted like sawdust in my mouth. Connie seemed unnaturally tense for the entirety of his visit, while Sasha seemed too laid back. I think she was trying to keep _my_ nerves in check to make sure I didn’t have a heart attack or something. Connie being Connie was probably just pissed off about the whole situation and sucked at keeping a poker face about it.

Eventually after an hour of talking about whatever came to mind (which wasn’t as bad as I may be making it seem), Armin strode in with Marco and Jean who both looked no worse for the wear.

“Damn, did Sasha make you breakfast?” asked Jean. I nodded and he simply shook his head with a smile on his face. “You lucky shit.”

“Getting shot has its privileges.” I was joking but whether or not he picked up on that, I didn’t know. He tensed up and put his arm on the small of Marco’s back and ran his free hand through his hair.

“Yeah… about that, how are you feeling?”

“I really wish people would stop asking me that.”

Marco snorted and looked at Jean. “He’s definitely alright.”

Jean shook his head again and sat on the small bench shoved against the wall, looking drained as hell. I remembered Shadis mentioning that both Marco and Jean had been attacked too, and I briefly wondered how that had gone.

“So how’d you handle the situation?” I questioned. I’d aimed the comment at Jean but it was Marco who responded.

“The nearly getting our heads blown off situation?”

“Yeah, that one.”

Marco sighed, his shoulders visibly sagging while he chanced a look back at Jean who looked uninterested at best, and about to throw up at worse. “We left Connie’s place right after you and got rear ended as soon as we turned on to the highway. Some guys in suits got out of the car and just started shooting at the tires. They only wanted to keep us from running it seemed, but Jean was driving and just stuck the car in reverse and backed over half of them.”

As fucked up as the situation was, I let out a breathy laugh and glanced over at Jean who made eye contact with me. His amber eyes practically glowed with amusement and I realized he must love the praise he was getting. “Impressive footwork, Kirstein.”

He smirked and retorted, “I try.”

“After that,” Marco continued, “we headed straight for headquarters. Seemed like the safest place to go but when we got here people were shouting about gunshots. We saw Annie walk out of Shadis’ office and then we saw you bleeding on the floor. She explained everything and we’ve been helping Armin look through Shadis’ things ever since.”

“Did you find anything?” Connie asked.

Marco shook his head, but Armin cut in before he could respond. “His office is abnormally clean. Whatever information he may have had on this group was in his head or stashed somewhere else.”

“Well what about his house?” I asked, only to be met with blank stares. “What?”

“No one knows where he lives, he deleted his file a week ago according to timestamps.” Well shit. He must’ve been doing an early clean up.

“I know. He brought me there a few times when I was younger. It’s been a while but I still remember.” Now I was beginning to see why Shadis must’ve wanted me dead so badly. I knew a lot, which made me dangerous to a lot of people.

Everyone in the room got excited, each person talking over someone else and eventually, Armin got everyone to quiet down enough so he could ask me for the address. I didn’t know it, but I did know which roads to take and that his house was the second to last on the street. It had to be kept quiet; if other agents in HQ found out then they’d be climbing over one another to get there first and get the information. Not in competition, but everyone was pissed enough to want to take out this rising organization. Being reckless now was dangerous, and everyone here knew it.

Sasha agreed to stay along with Marco, for the sake of extra security. I knew Armin was worried about leaving me alone while they all went out to do the dirty work, and he was probably right. I hated sitting here helpless with nothing to do. But if there was valuable intel stashed at Shadis’ house we couldn’t afford to let my spitefulness keep it at arm's length.

Armin, Jean, Connie, Annie, and even Reiner left around six o’clock to investigate the house. Marco stayed at HQ, but left to double check on a few things that he never specified. Sasha, much to my enjoyment, requested to stay with me and even brought her laptop down to the Med Wing to watch movies with me. We’d marathoned a ton of Marvel movies and were halfway through the third Iron Man when I noticed she was asleep in the arm chair next to the bed.

I did my best to drape one my my many blankets over her shoulders but my own arm screamed at my movements and it wound up looking like a really thick, saggy scarf was hanging on her back. Oh well, I tried.

I finished the movie around eleven and silently wondered what the hell could be taking a small group of five so long to return home. My phone was nowhere to be found and I hadn’t even bothered asking about it earlier which left me no way to contact Armin. In the end I relented and accepted that I’d just have to wait and pass the time with sleep. Sasha stirred next to me as I pulled my own blankets up and nestled into the rather stiff mattress. With any luck the group had been lucky and found everything we needed to find this rogue faction and shut it down.

 

*****

 

I’d always been a light sleeper, but having Sasha shake me awake with sirens blaring in the background contradicted that theory. Her face was wracked with worry and her mouth was moving faster than I could track.

“Eren! Get up we _have_ to go! Can you hear me?”

“Christ Sasha what-” There was a loud bang from somewhere down the hall and out of nowhere she whipped a gun out and kept her back to the door, cautiously peering out from around the corner.

I propped myself up on my elbows and pulled the covers off, ignoring the throb I felt in my side. My shoulder was feeling better but my recovery process was about to go to hell if things were as bad as they seemed.

“Marco? Where are you?” I glanced at the door and saw Sasha with her phone in one hand, gun in the other. She motioned for me to get down out of view since I was kind of a bullseye target sitting on the bed like I was. “Alright, sounds good. I’ve got Eren with me but I don’t know how fast we’ll be able to move.”

“I’m fine, Sasha,” I interjected realizing she was referencing my injuries. I might have been shot but that didn’t mean I still wasn’t the best damn agent the MP had ever had. She shot me a look and I snapped my mouth shut, mostly because my protests were futile. There were footsteps and shouts coming from down the hall and they were getting closer. There was a back exit that lead to the parking lot but we’d have to make it past the commotion outside and a security system that defended the door against break ins.

Then again, if there were people inside the Med Wing already the security systems were probably not a problem any longer.

In front of me, Sasha continued to talk out a plan with Marco and leaned out of cover to fire off three shots. I heard more yelling at the end of the hall and the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the tile. There were more gunshots but they were coming from the opposite direction. Petra’s rubber soled shoes squeaked on the floor as she slid into my hospital room, armed to the teeth with two pistols and a knife strapped to her thigh. Right away she handed me a gun without checking to see if I was even fit to fight, which I was grateful for.

Now that I had a means of defense, all I had to worry about was staying alive.

“Marco you still there? Petra’s here too.” Sasha said, struggling to keep her composure. Next to me Petra’s forehead was beaded with sweat and there was a shallow but noticeable cut across her forehead.

“You alright?” I questioned, and she nodded.

“Fine. We need to get to the back exit, it’s our best chance out of here-” A bullet ricochet off the metal door frame and Sasha screamed in surprise, warranting the intruders to get closer to the door. Sasha retaliated by firing off five more shots and taking down two of the targets. “Sasha, we need to move! Now!”

“You think I don’t know that?!” came Sasha’s indignant reply. I snatched a vase off the bedside table and smashed it against the mirror on the other side of the room, snatching up one of the pieces. I heard Petra say something about paying for that later but I ignored her and took point low next to Sasha. I angled the mirror piece so I could keep my arm shielded from bullets but still see, and I counted at least seven men in suits situated in offensive positions, but there were undoubtedly more hiding behind walls I couldn’t see through. I immediately picked out the short, black haired man for the third time leading the pack.

“Seriously this guy should just take a picture if he wants to keep seeing me.” I muttered, and Sasha shot me a questioning look. “There’s a short guy behind the front desk, I’ve seen him twice before now. He’s probably someone important, which means we need to shoot him.”

“Great logic, Eren,” Petra said sarcastically behind me. “We need to get across the hallway, if we can do that it’s a straight shot to the back door and we have a better chance. They’re boxing us in right now.”

More gunfire rained in our general direction and I forced myself further back against Sasha’s legs to avoid getting hit. As soon as it stopped, it went eerily quiet. There wasn’t a sound to be heard from the end of the hallway and I lifted the mirror piece again to do a headcount. As soon as I brought it up I made out the short guy lifting his gun before the mirror was shot out of my hands, resulting in a scream from Sasha and me cursing up a storm. I wasn’t hit, but the broken glass damn well cut my palms up.

“Guess you’re not as shitty a shot as I thought!” I called out, ignoring Petra’s protests once again.

“That why I managed to hit you last time too?” came his cocky reply.

“The time you tried and failed to corner me at the stop light or the one before that where you missed my head? I’m not impressed.” My antagonistic remarks seemed to rattle the guy a bit because more bullets whizzed past my head and struck the far end of the hallway.

“Eren,” hissed Petra.” You’re _not helping_.” Seemed like I was rattling her too.

This situation fucking sucked, and not just because I was positive my side stitches were on the verge of tearing again. We were either unfathomably careless with our security after Shadis’ confession, or there was another mole. I didn’t know which pissed me off more. I had so many questions and even though my secret agent training told me to blow this guys head off, I wanted answers.

Petra abruptly pulled me away from the door and I nearly dropped my gun, she was stronger than she looked. “Quit egging them on! We’re already in over our heads here.”

Outside there were seemed to be a sudden firefight at the intruders’ end of the hall. Sasha leaned out and hit a button on her phone, shoving it back in her pocket. She held her gun level in front of her and called over her shoulder “Come on! Marco’s here!”

Petra and I followed Sasha quickly, just barely managing to skirt out of sight before one of the men called for them to take us out. We were in a crammed supply closet now, just a few feet away from the hallway leading to the back door. Sasha reloaded her gun smoothly and talked to Petra about escaping while also attempting to take some of the pressure of Marco, now that he was here. I leaned out of the doorway and fired a few shots down the hall when I heard footsteps and managed to hit one of the guys in the shoulder, sending him spinning into the wall next to him. Blood decorated the floors, the ceiling, the walls. It was everywhere, but there were only a few dead littering the floor. I spotted an MP agent who had been hiding behind the front door of the Med Wing get yanked out of cover and get his neck snapped.

Anger rushed through me, and I struggled to control myself to avoid getting myself killed. Marco called out from the same area, “Sasha, Eren! Get out of here, we can handle it!”

Like hell they could. There were only a handful of agents on both sides, yet our people seemed to be eating metaphorical shit. We had the advantage, a two front against these fuckers who thought they could waltz in and overthrow one of the most powerful organizations in Trost. Yeah, not gonna happen.

“Marco, how many people you got left?” I called over the voices in the hallway. I could hear Petra arguing with Sasha about running for the door and leaving Marco behind, but I was with Sasha on this one; we couldn’t lose anyone else. Bertholdt was one too many gone.

“About nine!” He responded. I snatched Sasha’s phone out of her back pocket and opened up the front facing camera so I could count. There were still a good amount of the intruders hiding throughout the lobby, maybe eleven now, which meant my previous assumption of there being more was correct. I closed the camera and called up Marco, tucking the phone between my ear and shoulder while I reloaded my own gun.

“Eren,” he said as soon as he picked up. “How you guys holding up?”

“We’re fine, but you guys are in trouble. There’s more of them hiding closer to us and your people can’t see them. They’ve got more coverage than us but we have a two front advantage. Take whatever shots you can to distract them and pull your guys out safely. Then hightail it out of here through the front. Sasha, Petra and I will make a break for the back door.”

“You want to run?” As much as I hated running, we were losing too many people too fast and it wasn’t going to end any time soon.

“Yeah, I do. It sucks but we have little choice here. Get to safety and call Jean, see where the hell they are and tell them to stay away from headquarters.”

“You didn’t call Armin yet?”

“I don’t have my phone, so no. They’d be walking right into a war zone and I am not losing anyone else. Wait for my signal to throw everything we’ve got at these guys then go. Understand?”

“Got it.”

I hung up and handed Sasha’s phone back to her, trying not to let my mind wander to Armin and the others. What if they’d walked right into a trap by going to Shadis’ house? Were they even there anymore? Did they get driven off the road like before? There were too many questions to consider and I didn’t have time for it.

“You guys clear on the plan?” I asked, looking up at the two ladies. Both of them nodded and Sasha stated she’d take point. Petra would follow second, and I’d cover our asses. “Alright.”

Sasha stepped out of the closet and called out, “Marco, now!”

Immediately following the order gunfire bombarded the hallway, hitting anything in a black suit and giving me time to blow off a few heads as well. Sasha was clear and ran for the back door, and Petra followed soon after. The short guy giving orders spun on his heel, realizing what we’d planned and shot at me just as I was passing the threshold. Thankfully I didn’t get hit, but I knew we’d have to move faster.

My side stung and I quickly checked to see blood seeping through my white shirt. My stitches were torn yet again. _Better that than another bullet_ , I thought. I ran after the two, not stopping to see if I was being followed or to see if Marco had indeed followed my orders. I’d have to trust in his abilities and hope for the best.

When we made it outside it was overcast and misting slightly, which made everything easier as opposed to dealing with full on downpour. Petra pulled out a set of keys and unlocked her car, which was parked on the far end of the lot. “C’mon, we’ll be safe once we’re in the car.”

I hate to admit it but I was seriously falling behind. My shoulder stitches had torn open at some point, I wasn’t sure when, but the pain was more noticeable than before. The blood that covered the right side of my shirt had gone unnoticed until Sasha turned around to see me clutching my side, feebly speed walking after them.

“Eren!” She moved to run back to help me but stopped short and ducked to the left quickly, just missing the shot aimed at her head. Petra grabbed her forearm and dragged her up, pulling her in the direction of the car against Sasha’s muffled protests.

I turned around to see the short guy stalking up to me, and I raised my gun only to have it knocked from my hand. Mustering up what strength I had left, I brought my leg up into a roundhouse kick. He blocked it easily and lunged forward with deadly precision, spearing me in the throat with his knuckles. I gagged and stepped back, refusing to fall to my knees like my body was practically begging me to. He moved quickly, ending up behind me and getting me in a choke hold. I dug my heel into the top of his foot and grabbed a fistfull of his jacket, using his own weight against him and letting him hit the pavement with a painful thud.

More of the opposition came rushing out of the back door, forming a close circle around me and my opponent. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Petra and Sasha were out of danger and in the car. Sasha still looked to be arguing with Petra, while Petra stubbornly shook her head.

Good. At least one of them was sensible enough to take the opportunity to run.

When I turned back the short guy was standing again, glaring daggers at me but really sizing me up. He knew I had nowhere to run, so he was taking his time. I had to fight, to at least finish this by letting them know, plain and simple, that this wouldn’t be easy for them. That every agent in the MP was as strong willed as I was and they’d have to give a lot to get a little from our group.

My head swam and I glanced down at my bleeding wound, taking note that there was a legitimate trail of blood leading right up to me from the back door. I raised my fists all the same and focused my attention on the bastard in front of me, willing myself to hold on long enough to at least get a good hit on his pretty little face.

“You’re persistent, I’ll give you that.” he said smoothly. I smirked at him, though it probably came across as more of a grimace. “Shadis said you would be the only problem, and it looks like he was right. But you could be beneficial to our cause.”

 _Hold up. What?_ “You’re all criminals. The Military Police is the only thing standing between the Capital and the corrupted and you’re trying to take us out.”

“The Military Police is dirty, Brat.” His voice was entirely serious and he held my gaze as he spoke. “Try to see past everything you’ve been taught and take a look around. There’s more to this than you know.”

Armin’s own words echoed in my head when he said that. Shadis was a bastard, that much I knew. I also knew that he betrayed us, claiming to be doing it because the Capital was corrupted. I felt like everything was becoming more complicated and harder to sort out than it really was.

“Levi, he’s not looking too good. We bringing him in or taking care of it now?”

I didn’t hear the short guy… Levi’s (I assumed) response. My head kind of went blank and it’s hard to describe what I was feeling. It was like white noise in my head that I couldn’t sift through and it had me on my knees in seconds.

That last thing I saw before blacking out entirely was Levi walking towards me and Petra’s car in the background driving off to what I hoped, was safety.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> super sorry if anyone was waiting on an update for this! good news is I like this story enough to have thought out a full plan for it so with any luck I can convince myself to keep writing it when I can.  
> this chapter was like half a page shorter than the last, but the next will be longer, that much I can promise :^)  
> kudos and comments are always appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #Trending: grumpy old man punches high class military agent in the crotch

When I woke up the first time, there were hands on my torso and people talking.

“I’m not asking for the numbers, Hanji, I’m asking if he’ll at least live.”

“He’s lost a lot of blood but I have faith he’ll pull through. Say, didn’t you say you shot him in the arm a while back?” The second voice was most definitely female, and following her question cold fingers tapped my right bicep where the stitches there had held.

A disgruntled noise came out of the man also talking, followed by a laugh from the woman. “Seems you unknowingly made my job more difficult.”

“Shut up, Hanji. You said it yourself he’s fine. Just make sure he’s stable enough to talk to Erwin by tomorrow.” A door slammed somewhere behind me and shortly after, I slipped back into a painless sleep.

 

*****

 

When I awoke again I opened my eyes this time. The room was dim and empty, save for a chair in the far corner and the bed I was laying in. The door was metal and had a window on it with bars crossing it. _Almost like a prison,_ I thought. The room was foreign to me, which only prompted my anxiety to sky rocket. Bits and pieces of my confrontation with the man named Levi and Petra and Sasha’s escape came back to me. The two agents probably believed me to be dead, all evidence to the contrary.

To my pleasant surprise my side was no longer hurting, but I was aware of the stitches that still existed there. I really needed a vacation after all this crap. Outside the metal door there was a slam, followed by footsteps. In a moment of panic I attempted to bolt off the bed to hide, but my wrists were jerked back by a fairly large chain.

 _I was chained? To the bed? Un-fucking-believable_. I wrapped the chain around my palms and gripped them hard, pulling with as much strength as I could muster. It was pointless but I still tried.

The door in front of me creaked open and in stepped three people; a tall brunette woman with glasses, a broad shouldered blond man in a suit, and Levi. I kept my eyes on Levi for a moment longer. He’d brought me here, no doubt about it. When he could have shot me in the head and left me for dead, he didn’t. It didn’t mean I trusted him, but it did mean I didn’t have to be afraid of everyone in the room.

“Mr. Jaeger, I trust you’re feeling better?” said the blond man. He looked strangely familiar but I couldn’t quite place where I’d seen him before. His voice was gravely and the way he carried himself made me nervous. Confidence. He carried himself with confidence.

I was nervous as hell and gripped the chains tighter to steel my nerves. “Somewhat. Thanks for the accessories.”

His eyes flicked down to the chains and an amused smile spread across his face. “Yes, well. We can’t have you causing any more trouble than you already have. I’ve never seen one person take out so many of my operatives.”

I wanted to tell him about Petra and Sasha doing most of the work but I didn’t know if that would put them in danger. I didn’t even know if they were safe. I could only hope that Armin and Jean and everyone else wasn’t in a situation similar to mine.

“Now Eren, I’m going to assume you have questions and we’ve all agreed we want those out of the way sooner rather than later. So ask away.” He picked up the chair that had been shoved in the corner and turned it around so it was backwards, then slid into the seat. He rested his forearms on the back of the chair and just… stared at me. It was then I realized exactly where I’d seen this guy before.

The fucker had ordered a platoon of his men to fire on my house.

“You’re the one who followed me to my house.” I stated, venom dripping from my words. He only nodded in response, not looking the least bit guilty.

“Those were… different circumstances. Things have changed since then, and we’d like your cooperation.”

“Cooperation with what? Who the hell are you people?”

“I’m sure Shadis dropped our organization name at least once. Officially we’re known as The Underground, mostly because the majority of our people originate from beneath Trost city streets. Unofficially however, we’re called the Survey Corps. We’ve been watching longer than we have been attacking which is why we’re so efficient at what we do.”

“And what is it you’ve done besides kill innocent Military Police agents?” These guys had been messing with our people for months now, and there were more dead now than there ever had been out on the field before.

“I’m afraid those agents were too fast held to their faith in the Military Police. You can’t honestly tell me you haven’t noticed things changing Eren. The Capital in all their bureaucratic glory has failed to take into account that they aren’t invincible, and the citizens of Trost won’t bow to their will any longer.”

This guy needed to say it straight before I strangled myself with my chains. “What do you _mean_?”

“The Capital is a powerhouse Mr. Jaeger. People there hold more authority than they should, and they abuse it. There are fights in the streets over bread and handfuls of coins. Infant mortality has dropped drastically in the past five years because all money that should go to hospitals is being diverted back to the politicians in control. Long story short, people are suffering. Unfortunately no one can do anything because there’s a bit of a hurdle between the people and the Capital.”

Now it was beginning to make a bit of sense. “Us.”

“Exactly,” he said with a smile. “The Military Police is very dangerous. You’re given the best of everything; weapons, training, money. With enough training one agent can become a weapon themselves.”

He was clearly refering to me.

“You’re coddled by The Capital. They pay you handsomely so you don’t question the orders they give and you do your jobs with the utmost precision.”

“You’re telling me things I already know.”

“Precisely Eren. You already know because you lived it. Years spent training and learning to follow every order, whether you agreed with it or not. Had Shadis not tried to kill you and confessed to everything you would still be in the dark doing The Capital’s dirty work.”

“So, what? You want to shut down the Military Police? There’s better ways to do that than to kill people who were just doing their jobs!”

“Unfortunately we couldn’t convince those people to turn against what-”

“Bullshit!” I cut him off, and his eyes narrowed. “Bertholdt hadn’t been asked to turn against the MP, he was shot in the fucking head and left to die. You guys are laying all your cards out on the name of justice when you don’t even know the fucking meaning of the word.”

At that, Levi walked to the door and banged on it with his fist twice. Footsteps echoed outside and the door creaked open once again. I felt like punching a wall when I saw him. In walked Bertholdt, alive and well, and most definitely without a bullet in his head.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” I muttered.

“Everything they’re saying is true Eren. You have to believe them.” said Bertholdt. He was wringing his hands together nervously, eyes trained on me even though I knew he probably wanted to be looking anywhere but at me right now. I didn’t know what to think. Did I get angry? I was already angry, now I was confused. Maybe what these people were saying was true, and just maybe, Shadis had been justified in trying to shoot my head off. But why tell me this? What did these people want from _me_?

I had nothing to say, so I sat there glaring daggers into the door behind Bert. I saw him turn around and look at Levi defeated, shrugging his shoulders lightly. It seemed they’d hinged my cooperation on showing me they really weren’t heartless bastards who gunned down six foot crybabies.

“Hey, Brat.” Levi said, effectively getting my attention. He’d said nothing since walking in and had been watching everything play out silently. I ignored the ‘Brat’ nickname for the time being and met his gaze. “A lot more people are going to die if we can’t get your people on our side. They look up to you now that Keith is gone, and if you can get them to back down, we can save people on both sides for what really matters.”

So he didn’t really want to kill agents. For some reason I was inclined to believe him. Maybe because he’d brought me here instead of killing me. Then again, I was chained up in a cell, so maybe I shouldn’t be so lax with all this.

“They probably think I’m dead,” I replied, knowing that it was true. If I were Petra or Sasha and I’d seen me bleeding to death surrounded by men with guns I’d have laid down all hope right there.

Levi seemed to consider this and looked at the man in charge. “This is beneficial for the time being. If they think you got taken out then maybe they’ll keep their heads down for a while.”

“So they’re safe?” I affirmed.

“I can’t promise they’re not dead in a ditch somewhere, but I can say if they are it wasn’t our doing, and I won’t send my people after them.” said blondey. It wasn’t perfect but it was better than nothing.

“What do you want from me?” I asked.

“You’re valuable, Eren. You know Military Police ins and outs better than anyone. Shadis was supposed to be our inside man but he was a damn idiot and took matters into his own hands to get rid of people when he should have been convincing them. You’re the next best thing.”

“So just to summarize all this; you want me to help your people by convincing my people to join your people so we can overthrow the corrupt government for the people.” He looked to Levi (who looked like he wanted to hit me), then to the brunette woman who still had yet to say anything, then back to me.

“Pretty much, yes.”

I nodded slowly, trying to decide what to do. I wasn’t in much of a bargaining position at the moment, but to me it really came down to joining them and helping people, or refusing and getting myself and other MP agents killed. Though they weren’t threatening my life or anything, so I suppose it was reasonable to assume these guys weren’t gonna gun me down at a moment's notice. I would definitely want more information later on, as well as the opportunity to track down Armin and his group. But for now, everything was pretty straight forward.

“Fine.” It was all I said, but as soon as I said it all the tension in the room seemed to bleed out. The woman who’d been waiting silently strode over to my side and pulled out a set of keys, unlocking my restraints and smiling.

“My name’s Hanji, by the way.”

Hanji. I’d heard that name before. “You fixed my stitches.”

“That I did! You got here in the nick of time thanks to Levi here. I’m certain you’d have been dead if he hadn’t gotten here as quick as he did.”

I couldn’t help but look over to Levi who was now talking with the bigger guy quietly. For some reason I was stuck looking at his hair, noticing his neatly shaved undercut. His coat was clean, leading me to believe he’d changed since I remembered seeing him covered in blood splatters before I lapsed out. He was probably a good four inches shorter than me, I could tell just by sitting down. I was about 5’7”, he had to be at least 5’3” if not shorter.

My observing was cut short when I heard “My name is Erwin, by the way.”

I looked up to see the blond guy, Erwin, holding his hand out in front of me. I shook it carefully, reminding myself that I’d have to loosen up if I was to accomplish anything.

“Levi will show you the ropes while you’re here. We’re planning an attack on another Military Police base on the outskirts of Trost. They’ve got viable intel stashed there that we need.”

I nodded and watched Erwin and Levi shuffle out the door, leaving Hanji and Bertholdt in my room. Hanji was quick to ask me how I was feeling, if I wanted any pain meds. I declined, considering for the first time since getting shot my wounds weren’t throbbing terribly. It was more of a dull ache, nothing I couldn’t handle. It made me wonder if Petra was a crap doctor or if the pain meds back at HQ were just sugar tablet stand ins.

Hanji was gone after a few minutes of idle banter regarding her work and how thrilled she was to have a new face around. Her enthusiasm was less contagious and more off putting; she was lucky her teeth were white and straight what with all the grinning she did. She practically skipped out of the room after a while, leaving Bertholdt standing awkwardly in the corner. I don’t know why he stuck around, there wasn’t much to say. It wasn’t that I felt betrayed by him faking his death, I just…

Actually yeah. I felt betrayed.

“Eren, please let me explain this. It looks worse than it really is.”

“Does it really? Cause to me it looks like you took the coward’s way out.”

He furrowed his brow and leaned back as if stunned. “How was it the coward’s way out?!”

“Did you think we wouldn’t understand or something? You could have told someone- anyone! What about Reiner and Annie?” Unless… “Did they know it was a farce?”

I was getting myself all worked up again and I could feel my blood pounding in my skull. “No! Eren, they didn’t know. Let me explain, quit assuming things.”

I wanted nothing more than to kick him upside his giant, sweaty head. But I relented and crossed my arms over my chest, silently acknowledging that I’d listen. That is, until I head something I didn’t like. Then I’d probably start shouting and break off the chair leg to impale him with.

“It’s repetitive but everything comes down to the Capital being corrupted. They take all the money in the city for themselves and because of it, there’s poverty everywhere you look. You’ve seen that massive _castle_ they stick the bureaucrats in.” He spat the word like it was a bad taste, and I briefly wondered how deep his hatred for the politicians ran. “I lost my entire family because of them.”

Most people who joined the Military Police did so to get off the streets. It payed well, and offered you security from the basic and shitty parts of the city. But the negatives of joining strongly outweighed the positives. As I stated a while back, once you were in, that was it. Backing out posed too many security risks. Which… made me wonder what exactly happened when you did quit. I’d never considered it.

“We lived in the slums for years until I joined up with the Military Police years ago. You were already there, you trained me. Every scrap of money I got went to my mom, dad, and brother. Until the Capital’s personal watchdogs ransacked the area my parents lived in and slaughtered everyone.”

“Whoa, what? I never heard anything about people getting murdered Bert.”

“You wouldn’t have, they covered it all up. They couldn’t risk our branch of MP getting wind of it, so they sent in their own task force dedicated to monitoring their own security to do it. Better to have civilians who take up space be the ones dying as opposed to someone important. After it was over they just dumped bodies and went back to their regular ways of life.”

I had no idea what to say. No one at HQ ever really told stories of where they came from, of what they did before joining. I was always there for as long as I could remember so I never thought relishing in other people’s pasts was important. Had I always been so short sighted?

“How recent was this?”

“A year and a half ago. I didn’t know what to do, I had nowhere to go except to stay with Reiner. I toughed it out, until I found out the truth. It took a bit of digging but eventually someone with The Underground contacted me and told me I could join them in exchange for information.”

Once again I wanted to be angry. But I couldn’t be. I wished part of me could relate to losing my family, but truth be told I didn’t remember anything past Shadis finding me in some cesspool years ago and bringing me in. I’d been trained to shoot a gun and write at the same time. There was never a mother or father in the picture. Bertholdt was a good guy; nice and compassionate from what I could tell. I’d exchanged pleasantries with him a few times but other than that we were never close aside from when I’d trained him after he joined the MP.

Based on what I knew about Bertholdt coupled with everything he was telling me now, my heart went out to the guy.

“I don’t know the full extent of what happened at HQ, Eren. I just know we were attacked and Reiner and Annie bolted. One of their guys told me to keep quiet and fired off a shot to make them think I was dead. Seems like if we’re on their side they’d rather the Military Police think we’re dead.”

Yeah, well. No problem there for me now.

“So you didn’t know about the attack?”

“No. I was aiming to take out the Capital all along, I didn’t know they’d hit base like they did. I was less than pleased.” He rubbed the back of his neck, seemingly less tense than he had been when we started talking. Apparently knowing I wasn’t going to try to kill him was a comfort. “How is Reiner, by the way?”

“He’s…” I thought back to how terrible he’d looked when I saw him in the Med Wing the first time. “He’s alright. Physically. I don’t know about mentally. He took you ‘dying’ pretty badly.”

“I heard he got shot?”

“Yeah, right shoulder. Good thing he’s left handed.” I pointed out.

Bert laughed softly. “How do you know that?”

“I’m an intuitive person,” was a shorter answer than going into depth about how I learned to read people since age ten.

“Did you know…” Bertholdt trailed off. I gave him a moment to get his train of thought back on track. “We were, um. Together.”

“I guessed you were.”

His head snapped up and he seemed worried. “Really? Was it obvious?”

“Nah, I’ve just been around you both long enough and I can pick up on stuff like that easier. Don’t worry. No one ever said anything or questioned it if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Yeah,” he finished lamely.

For the first time since everything started I didn’t have questions. I was positive I’d think some up later, but for now there were none. Bert eventually left me to sleep, insisting that I needed it though I was certain I’d be staring at the ceiling for hours. The fact that I was still in this cell was unnerving, but the shackles were gone which was surefire in reducing some of my previously building anxiety. There were no windows in here, and no way to tell what time it was. I wasn’t even sure how much time had passed between passing out in the parking lot and waking up here.

Guess I’d found a few questions to ask now. In the meantime I tried to fall asleep, eager to get better so I could finally do something to help. For which side, I wasn’t sure.

 

*****

 

It took three days for my wounds to heal enough for Hanji to let me move around on my own, but was adamant about letting me train or do anything of the sort. It was irritating being told what to do from someone I hardly knew (she was a lot different than Petra in terms of medical care), but I went with it all the same. After a day and a half of compliance I convinced Hanji to let me wander around the grounds.

The training arena was ridiculously small, and the low budget was obvious. While everything being utilized was adequate for people to learn enough, I started to realize I’d really taken steel walls in the shooting range at HQ for granted.

Bertholdt was around here and there, but he still kept his distance. I was kind of grateful for that. While I understood why he’d done what he did I was still bitter about it. I’d blame it on trust issues but I think it was the underlying fact that the only place that had been constant in my life was in the shitter. Trost Military Police Headquarters was without a doubt compromised.

While exploring I came across two weapons specialists who were interesting to talk to. One was a darker skinned man named Gunther who had a mild sense of humor and could carry on a conversation. The other, Eld, has a serious face and kind of intimidated me. Not much, but the monotone demeanor threw me for a loop. Both were civil enough towards me even though I was probably the most important member of their enemies organization.

My adventuring was short lived, however, as Levi eventually tracked me down when I was checking out the mess hall. I’d only ever eaten in my room, returning after a day of looking around to find a tray of warm soup sitting on my bed.

“C’mon Brat, time to move,” said Levi. There was no malice to his words, just an uninterested and cold tone. It looked like he’d dressed for his day off today as opposed to all the other times I’d seen him. He wore a simple black button up under a blazer that was only draped over his shoulders. Not to mention the dark blue jeans he wore were noticeably different from his usual dark slacks.

“Why do you call me that?” I asked, half curious and half trying to make small talk.

“Because you’re a brat.” Levi replied simply.

“But I’m not. I’m quite civil, even funny. You can see the halo above my head.”

Narrowed grey eyes met mine in a look I could only describe as bored disbelief. He didn’t respond and continued ahead, walking relatively quickly for someone with such short legs. I’d elected to not comment on his height, I actually wanted to keep my life. 24 years wasn’t enough thank you very much.

He was silent for another minute or two before saying, “We’ll get you a uniform and you can begin helping Erwin coordinate the next attack.”

“Thanks, but I’m not wearing a uniform.” Aside from the fact that all people here _not_ in suits were in all black, I didn’t even think there was a uniform.

He shrugged and without looking at me said “Suit yourself. Less obvious you’re with us that way.”

He lead me through a narrow hallway that opened to a large room. There were a few doors in the room but they were all closed, and Levi wasn’t heading towards any of them anyways. He started up a staircase without a word and stopped on the third floor. I could hear Erwin’s unmistakable booming voice through the door straight ahead and walked inside after Levi.

The room was bigger than I thought, encompassing a large conference table and six people including Erwin. Hanji was there, as was Eld and Gunther. There were two other people I had yet to meet and made an effort to just avoid looking in their general direction. As if it wasn’t awkward enough seeing how these people planned attacks against my own organization, now I was nervous about a meet and greet.

“Mike, Nanaba, this is Eren,” Erwin said with a smile. The taller bearded man seemed to sniff a bit and nodded politely at me while the short blonde woman gave a curt nod, ready to move on. “Glad to see you’re up and moving around Eren.”

“Thanks,” I deadpanned.

“Now to get down to it.” he unrolled a large map that took up nearly half the table and began laying tiny red markers down on certain areas. I recognized one area to be exactly where HQ was and figured out he was marking all of the Military Police strongholds. Ours had been in Shiganshina District but we kind of merged it with Trost’s since Shiganshina in itself was pretty small. After doing that, our building was dubbed the most secure and largest, so it became Trost’s center of operations. Erwin finished with the red markers and added a few blue ones in some random locations.

“We have enough of an advantage in these districts to take this Military Police base out.” I glanced at where he pointed and my breath nearly hitched in my throat. _Sina District_. “They’re the largest under the control of the Capital and if they’re out of the picture, it’s only a bit more work until we have a straight shot to our true goal.”

Shit, this guy was ambitious. He was right about one thing; Sina was the biggest, baddest MP base out of the rest. Both of Trost’s HQ locations had been a close second in terms of size, but most money and resources were diverted to Sina. I’d been there a few times in Shadis’ place to deliver reports and other shit that was way below my pay. I remember their training grounds most, remembering how efficient they looked. They were just generally better. And trying to attack the place was a suicide mission.

I must have had a look on my face because I could see Levi and Hanji eyeing me with… was it concern or curiosity? I did my best to put on my poker face after that. Erwin talked a bit more about the layout surrounding the building and how it would take more than a few days to really formulate a plan to infiltrate. Apparently they had sources on the inside who were feeding them descriptions of the inside to give a clear idea of where to break in from. It reminded me of Bertholdt.

After Mike interjected and started speaking, I kind of stopped paying attention. I was focusing before, but now I realized just what exactly I’d gotten myself into.

 

*****

 

We weren’t actually underground, but I couldn’t help but notice just how difficult it was to see the sun from the roof. After Erwin’s meeting in what I’d elected to call the War Room, I walked up the six flights of stairs to reach the roof. I’d been sitting on the edge of the worn down building for about an hour just watching. The mountains that surrounded the district almost seemed like a wall and I couldn’t help but wonder just how secluded the people living here felt.

My eyes were closed and I was definitely zoning, but I still heard the hatch close and I resisted the urge to jump off the railing into a defensive stance. Shoes on gravel got louder until I saw Levi’s familiar head of raven hair through the corner of my eye.

“Erwin wanted me to tell you you’re training the other recruits until the Sina mission is set to go.”

Puzzled, I glanced down at him. “I’m not training _with_ them?”

He stared straight ahead, “No. You have more experience than these guys. Most of them are just ordinary people eager to push back against the politicians. They don’t really understand how dangerous this is.”

I didn’t respond, which must have been answer enough for Levi because he didn’t say anything either or make a move to leave. The light from the sun was slowly disappearing behind the mountains more and more until it was just a dim glow and I was left wondering how long I’d been outside.

“How’d you know I was up here?” I asked Levi.

“I didn’t. I come up here to smoke.”

“You aren’t smoking.”

“Let me rephrase then; I come up here to smoke away from people.”

I snorted and looked at him. “Plenty of people of smoke around here, I don’t see why doing it away from people matters.”

“It’s disgusting. A shitty habit. Don’t get into it.”

“Too late,” I muttered. Cigarettes were my best friend through my teens and though I’d cut back over the years, I typically drank more to compensate. Levi finally looked at me for a moment before fishing into his back pocket and pulling out a packet of cigarettes. He stuck one between his lips and offered me one, saying nothing when I accepted.

We sat outside for a while longer in silence finishing our cigarettes. Normally I couldn’t stand the quiet. I’d been raised surrounded by gunshots and yelling and just generally a loud environment so it was what I was used to. Hearing nothing set my teeth on edge. But for whatever reason, sitting on a railing with Levi quietly smoking next to me was fine.

After I was done, I swung my legs over the edge and crushed my cigarette with the heal of my shoe. I worked out the kink that had formed in my back from slouching for so long and made my way back to the hatch. I opted not to say anything to Levi, he seemed like a man of few words as it was. I climbed back through the hatch and closed it behind me.

I really hadn’t done much of anything today but I couldn’t help feeling absolutely worn out. Shortly after downing the small bowl of soup that was situated in its usual place on my bed, I kicked off my jeans and crawled into bed, pleased to find sleep came quickly.

 

*****

 

Against my protests the day before about not needing a ‘uniform’... I needed a uniform. After ditching my blood and hole covered pants finally, I was very reluctant to put them back on. They could probably stand on their own. Hanji appeared at my door (which was always unlocked but still made me feel weird considering it was technically a cell) with her arms full of random clothes. They were all black and I sighed.

I was never big on the ninja dress code so many agents followed.

In the end I got to keep all the clothes. I slipped on a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans, similar to what Levi had worn yesterday. I said no to a jacket even though it was probably close to freezing this early in the morning. For the first time since I’d arrived to the Survey Corps I ate breakfast in the mess hall, grateful I didn’t get too many looks. I didn’t really count the looks a lot of the female agents as judgemental ones, they couldn’t take their eyes off me for other reasons.

Alright, maybe the shirt _was_ a little tight.

It was a quiet morning and I spoke to no one, not even Hanji when she barreled past me when I left the mess. I made my way out to the training grounds where Levi said I’d be spending the day. Part of me was glad to finally be doing something after a week of sitting on my ass, but another more irritable part of me was peeved that I’d have to train people. I’d done it before at HQ for two years; I’d trained Bertholdt and Connie. I hated it.

To me, holding a gun was natural. If I didn’t have one in my hand I got twitchy, nervous even. I didn’t know how to convey that to people who supposedly didn’t know how to pull a trigger.

Regardless, I wanted to help. I knew what we were going up against by attacking Sina headquarters and I knew what was coming to those who didn’t know how to handle themselves. I’d also be lying if I said Levi’s praise of my abilities didn’t feed my ego and push me to show off a little.

There were already a few people littering the grounds, most of them talking but a few were doing hand to hand drills. A lot of these people looked to be my age, some maybe younger. I was pretty sure the oldest person I’d met here was that Mike guy. His shaggy hair and shitty shave job kind of conveyed an old, starving artist theme to me.

One guy with blond hair and prominent sideburns noticed me watching everyone from the sidelines and nodded his head towards me. A girl with pigtails he’d been talking to turned to look, her eyes narrowing in a cautious glare. I didn’t react, instead turning on my heel and walking to a large tent set up in the middle of the grounds. When I pushed the curtain back I was surprised to find Bertholdt lacing up his boots, and he looked up at me surprised.

“Oh, hey Eren,” he stood and brushed off his pants giving me a smile.

“You training the agents with me?” I inquired.

He shook his head, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “Ah, no. I’m not really qualified to do that. I’ve been helping Erd and Gunther take care of weapons all week.”

I wanted to ask what he meant by not qualified; Bert was about average if not a little better than average when it came to combat. He was surprisingly adept with a gun and what he lacked in hand to hand abilities he compensated with schematics. He could hack just about anything and was _almost_ as good as Armin. Almost.

In the end I just nodded and let him walk out after he wished me luck. The tent was spacious and had a desk in one spot and trunks in all the others. I looked at one of the many pieces of paper cluttering the desk and saw it was some sloppily scrawled out training plans. Never thought there was really an agenda they tried to keep with for teaching new recruits.

I put the paper down at the same time Levi walked into the tent. He was wearing basically the same thing as yesterday, but his button up was replaced with a tight black t-shirt like mine. “Erwin stashes all the booze on the top floor,” he said instead of offering a normal greeting.

I blinked. “Um, alright?”

“You’ll thank me later. Training is hell and you’ll want to kick back later.”

“Is it appropriate to get drunk before a high risk mission?” I neglected to mention that I made a habit of getting drunk before and after any high risk operation.

At that, Levi smirked and shrugged. “Probably not. But I don’t give too many shits about it so I do it regardless.”

I snorted and went back to looking at the papers on the desk. When Levi didn’t leave and was instead rifling through one of the chests in the corner, I turned to watch. “Need help?”

He threw a large punching pad over his shoulder with ease and shut the chest. “No.”

“What do you need that for?”

“Training. Duh.” He patted his pockets and seemed to hesitate before bending down to pick up the pad.

“Oh, right.” Guess it was stupid of me to think I’d be doing all the teaching on my own. It made me feel a bit better about being surrounded by people who’d never held a gun before. Which I seriously doubted, but it got the point across.

Levi headed outside with the equipment and called for the trainees to line up, which they did quickly. I followed him and kind of awkwardly stood off to the side, doing my best to stand straight and look more confident than I felt. Suddenly my stomach was dropping into my feet all over this teaching shit. Why? It’s not like I hadn’t done it before. What made now so different?

“Normally we’d do things the normal way but today I want to see all your guys’ progress put together. This is Eren,” Levi jerked his thumb at me over his shoulder. “He’s gonna see what you guys can do and throw out any useful tips. The upcoming mission warrants no mistakes so I expect everyone to give training their all.”

“With all due respect, Captain Levi, why are we trusting that a Military Police officer can do anything good? I thought The Underground stood for something more.” The girl from before with pigtails was looking at me like I was Satan incarnate and I didn’t quite know how to respond to it. And why was it whenever someone said ‘with all due respect’ they really meant _kiss my ass_?

I don’t know what I expected Levi to do in response to this girl’s outbreak, if anything, but getting up in her face and fucking _glowering_ wasn’t on the list. “Because he knows more, and to be so completely ignorant of the fact that you still don’t know shit could get you killed. So shut up and deal with it or I’ll have you running death laps for the rest of the day. Understood?”

There was evidently no color in her face when she stepped back wearily and nodded. “Yes sir.” Her voice was shaky and she was clearly rattled, but I couldn’t bring myself to care all that much. Levi was her superior, end of story.

After that everyone was pretty compliant with exercises. Apparently training was split into two groups; a morning bunch and an evening one. There was an hour break in between for lunch, and when the trainees weren’t on the field with me and Levi they were doing ground work. When I’d asked Levi what “ground work” entailed he went quiet for a moment before responding with, “They clean.”

Right then.

Morning training had gone as well as expected, but I was pleased to discover the afternoon group was much more compliant with me being in charge. No one mentioned that I’d previously been with the Military Police and instead obeyed every order I gave. It was somewhat invigorating. I talked the trainees through proper hand to hand, as well as different ways to disarm opponents based on size, weight, and agility. Levi had seemed indifferent to everything I added but there was this tiny glimmer of approval that he masked with a scowl which made me all kinds of warm and fuzzy.

Eventually one of the younger kids who probably was about eighteen started slacking, talking with his combat partner instead of throwing him to the ground like I’d so clearly stated they needed to do. He held his hands in front of him like he was going to throw a punch, but it was a cover so he could keep talking without worrying about getting caught.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, definitely starting to feel the wear and tear of standing outside all day. “Do they all think we can’t see them being so obvious?”

Levi paused from wrapping his fists and diverted his attention to where I was looking. “No. Just Marlo. As usual.”

Levi finished with his fist wraps and stood, striding over to where Marlo was. The guy Marlo had been talking to noticed Levi first, but didn’t react in time before Levi had Marlo in a choke hold. There was an abrupt yelp (most definitely not from Levi) and then a painful sounding thud as Marlo hit the ground. Levi had his knee dug into the trainee’s ribs and was pushing his palm into the underside of the kid’s jaw. I silently noted the use of kung fu and added it to the list of things I was learning about Levi.

“Standing around like a flaccid dick won’t help you when you’re under fire, idiot. It’s pathetic.” Levi jerked off Marlo quickly and in one fluid motion, dusting off his pants. Beneath him the kid was writhing around, the wind clearly having been knocked out of him, and coughed for a few seconds.

“I’m clearly… at a disadvantage…” Marlo wheezed out. Levi remained stoic and I crouched down so I was resting my elbows on my knees.

“Yeah, you’re not paying attention when you should be. That’s your disadvantage,” I stated.

“If you’re so high and mighty _you_ fight the Captain. Just c-cause he’s short doesn’t mean he can’t fight.” I didn’t know if Levi would want to kick the shit out of this kid for that comment. He’d just called Levi short but rectified it by… complimenting his fighting abilities. I think.

“That would be something to see,” said a deep voice from behind us. Everyone turned to see Hanji and Erwin standing by the tent, amused smiles plastered on both their faces. “How about it?”

“Me? Fight him?” Levi questioned, pointing harshly at me. “Not a chance.”

“Awh, afraid you’ll lose?” Hanji prodded. I was with Levi on this one, I didn’t want to fight him. Not because I was afraid I’d lose or anything… I was just certain I’d definitely take damage. Like, more damage than him.

Levi’s scowl deepened and he tsked before glancing down at me, sizing me up even though I was still crouching. I quickly changed that and stood. Without a word he made his way to an open area on the grounds and fiddled with his wraps again, waiting for me.

Shit. Did I really want to do this? I’d known Levi all of a week and in that time he’d intimidated me more than Shadis ever had. I knew he was a good fighter after our altercation in the parking lot before I’d arrived here. Not to mention he just threw down Marlo like he weighed nothing. But I could do that too, and I’d been able to since I was ten.

“Oi, you going to stare all day?”

I couldn’t help the smirk that tugged at my lips as I put a good amount of space between us, readying my stance. One thing I noticed right away was that Levi didn’t make a show of preparing to fight. His stance was his everyday one with one leg behind the other and his hips tilted forward to intercept any attack. This would be interesting now that I wasn’t bleeding from a gunshot while fighting.

I heard Hanji say to Erwin what a good show they were all about to get at the same time Levi attacked. He stepped towards me, going low for a split second before lunging up in an attempt to throw my stance off. Stepping back I brought my knee up and kicked out, watching how he moved easily around it. He was quick to lash out and land a swift punch to my chest, sending me back a few steps.

Hanji whistled and the trainees murmured in excitement, clearly assuming Levi had the upper hand. Meanwhile I’d deduced he mixed kung fu and jujitsu together as well as his own agility to move like he did. The best way to fight him was to beat him at his own game and use the same abilities he did on a larger scale, or try something else entirely. I was tempted to try grappling but I figured he was too fast for that.

I decided to work out the technicalities later and instead went in for another kick. Levi reacted fast, but not before I turned my hip and psyched him out. The first strike had been a distraction, and now the real strike came, knocking him back. A chorus of ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s came from the trainees and Hanji started cackling, making Erwin groan. Levi tried to control the poker face he had on but I could see it slipping. He clearly hadn’t expected me to land a hit at all.

He repeated the same move he’d executed first, ducking low and coming back up with his arm extended like a spear. I stepped back but he switched his positioning so when he sailed by me, his arm was still extended and looped around my neck. He used his own momentum to fling me straight into the ground, leaving my neck with a nasty case of whiplash and causing the fading wound from one of my many gunshots to throb back to life.

 _Fucking great_ , I thought. I kicked my feet out and leapt off the ground, fists raised as I basically just charged in like a pissed off bull. I swung, he ducked, I kicked, he blocked. This repeated until he stumbled over one of the pegs that had nailed the tent into place, giving me the perfect opening to knock him down.

I mimicked the move he favored most and got low before leaping into his face, though instead of swinging around his slender neck I grabbed him by the waist and threw him down. He landed with a grunt and glared up at me, probably more pissed that I had my dirty shoe planted on his chest as opposed to me finally taking him down. I was elated and looked up to grin at Erwin and Hanji, both laughing at the display that had taken a long ass time to achieve. I was about to throw out some cocky one liner when Levi leaned forward and straight up punched me in the dick.

I knew everyone who had been watching gasped in horror as I collapsed off of him and clutched my jewels. I heard the scrape of his shoes as he got off the ground and dusted himself off.

“Levi! That was cheating!” called Hanji. _Yeah, it damn well was._

He gave her incredulous yet bored look. “No it’s not. He’s down, I’m up. I win.”

This guy’s reasoning was throwing me for a loop. I slowly removed my hands from my crotch and sat up, trying not to just give up and lie back down right there. I saw movement and looked to find Levi extending his hand towards me, an amused look playing on his features. I took his hand and let him haul me to my feet, tensing when he put his hand on my shoulder to steady me

“You alright? Everything still work?” he asked. I was positive it was more out of necessity than actual concern.

“I’ll live,” I concluded. Erwin was howling with laughter and Hanji looked stricken with grief _for me_. Marlo and the other agents were laughing too, and I held back the urge to repeat to Marlo what Levi had done earlier. I shook my head and made my way to the edge of the training grounds. I was definitely done for the day.

“You’re definitely experienced Eren,” said Erwin. “You’ll be a valuable asset to the Survey Corps.” He smiled once more before gesturing for Hanji to follow him back into the building. She cast a sympathetic look my way and I briefly wondered why I was getting more of a reaction out of her than any other male because _holy shit I just got sucker punched in the dick. Who the hell does that?_

Levi walked past me towards the tent without a look back and disappeared inside, leaving me outside with a handful of still snickering trainees. I didn’t care what time it was, I concluded right then and there that we were done for the day. Early dinner for everyone, go wild.

I on the other hand, needed a drink. A seriously strong one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's 5am and Christmas morning and i finally finished this chapter! thankfully im only 2 days past the initial deadline i set for myself (sorry sorry)  
> i was really eager to finish this part of the story because i was considering changing pov's for the next chapter. to who's you might ask? no fucking clue. just not eren. lmao  
> thank you for any kudos and comments! they mean the world and inspire me to keep writing :')  
> and happy holidays to everyone


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now if you don't have any fresh and natural angst, then store bought is fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Levi POV

I was going to kill Erwin and Hanji together. Slowly. Maybe I’d kill that Marlo brat too, it couldn’t hurt to be thorough. They all liked poking bruises and that was gonna come around to bite them in the ass one day. Or kick them in the ass. It seemed more likely that I’d be the one doing the kicking.

I’d retreated back into the tent after sparring with Eren to clear my thoughts and will myself not to throttle my superior and break his neck. Erwin was really a bitch sometimes.

Eren was an excellent fighter, I’d known that since I first met him. Even when the kid had a gaping hole in his side and was bleeding all over the ground in a parking lot he was decent enough. He was brash and didn’t think his moves through too clearly but he was quick to react, improvising based on what his opponent did.

Not to mention he’d mimicked my moves and used them against me _and_ had succeeded. I was surprised at first, but he let his guard down which gave me the opportunity to land a strike.

I almost felt bad about it.

He’d scurried into the main building after Erwin and Hanji and I had an idea of where he was going, but I had daily reports to finish. And I wanted to change; the massive dirt boot print on my chest was grating on my nerves. The agents who’d walked over to watch the show had disappeared from the training grounds rather quickly. A quick glance outside showed that no one was left milling around and were probably eating in the mess hall.

Pushing all the papers in front of me to the edge of the desk, I sighed and leaned back in my chair. My mind drifted to the upcoming mission, and I remembered the look on Eren’s face when he’d found out it was Sina HQ we were targeting. I’d known it would be difficult, but the look on his face had all but confirmed it. We had to be very careful, and I was confident the trainees weren’t even balls deep in the experience needed to survive.

We were gonna lose people, that much was certain.

I stood up from the desk and picked up the reports, making my way into the main building and up to Erwin’s office. He wasn’t there, which I was certain was on purpose. He probably knew I had a fist with his name on it for egging me on earlier. Regardless I walked inside and dropped the reports on his desk, then opened the top drawer and felt along the inside of it until my fingers grazed over a small metal key. I peeled the tape away that stuck it to the roof of the desk and shut the drawer.

I stopped in my room and changed my shirt before making my way to where I knew Eren would be. The booze was on the top floor, but Erwin still locked up the good stuff. I fished a cigarette out of my back pocket and stuck it between my lips, not lighting it yet. The top floor was quiet; not many people came around this area unless it was myself or someone else in charge who was checking storage or getting drunk. When I pushed open the top floor door, I saw Eren already hunched over the bar holding a cheap beer bottle.

He turned to look at me when I walked in and straightened up. “Hey,” he said lamely.

“How you feeling?” I inquired, kind of curious to know whether he harbored ill will towards me now.

“Fine.” he said simply. His eyes looked impossibly green in the lighting and I was thrown at how stark they were. They were too bright to be emerald, more like teal with a greener hue.

I swung my legs over the counter, briefly wondering why no one ever invested in a door to make getting behind the bar easier, and spotted the small sliding door that hid Erwin’s good scotch. Eren watched me unlock the tiny hatch and slide it open, looking pathetically at his beer when I set a bottle of bourbon in front of him.

“Are we allowed to drink this?” he asked, though he was already uncapping it and fishing for two glasses behind the counter.

I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Erwin only gets wasted once in every blue moon. Might as well be us to drink it all.” Closing the hatch door with my foot, I pulled out my lighter and finally lit my cigarette and accepted the glass that Eren had poured. I took a sip of mine before sucking on my cancer stick. This room was already musky and filthy; I didn’t care about adding to it.

Eren looked tense staring at his glass, turning it absentmindedly. I tapped my cigarette against the ash tray behind the bar and motioned in Eren’s general direction, making him jolt and turn to look at me.

“What’s your story, Eren?”

He furrowed his brow and looked back at his drink, finally bringing it to his lips and downing the whole thing. Bourbon wasn’t meant to be a shot, but I said nothing as he refilled his glass all the same. “There is no story.”

Normally I didn’t push with this, but I was genuinely curious. “No story to tell, or no story you remember?”

His head snapped up and he actually fucking _glowered_ at me. This was new. So far he’d seemed comfortable around me, maybe even a little idyllic like when we were on the roof. I watched a wall shoot up behind his eyes and he narrowed them at me.

“Why ask if you already know?”

Per Erwin’s request, Hanji had done a background search on Eren. She used codes and ID’s given to the Underground by our outside sources in the Military Police to access Eren’s service record. It was impressive; all his assignments marked completed successful and aside from a few fights with other agents (one named Jean in particular), he had nothing blacklisted. One thing that was noted by both the Military Police and Hanji was that he had no past. According to his file he was taken in by Keith Shadis, director of Trost Headquarters at the age of eight. He was found in the slums of Shiganshina, and there was no indication of whether he lived there or if he’d been dumped.

Kind of tragic really.

I worked on my cigarette for a few moments and studied Eren. His fist was clenched around his glass as he swirled the liquid lazily, but his demeanor had changed completely. He was anything but relaxed.

“I won’t lie to you Eren. I haven’t yet and I don’t intend to. I know as much as your MP file lists but that’s it.”

“Then…” he trailed off, shoulders slouched forward now. “Then that’s it.”

“That’s it?”

He set his drink down with a bit too much force and fixed me with another hard look. “Yeah Levi, that’s it. Do you want me to confirm or deny I was abandoned or something? Who the fuck knows, maybe whatever parents I had were killed like Bert’s. If I had a family, I don’t remember them. All I know is I was dirty and living in some shit hole and Shadis brought me in.”

I nodded slowly, giving him a minute or two of silence to reign in his temper. Eren seemed to be in control all the time, but poke a few bruises and you could get him to bite. Not that I wanted to, the kid didn’t need that.

“It’s hard to believe you were there for sixteen years,” I muttered around my cigarette, grinding it into the ashtray while exhaling. Eren, despite his sudden irritation at my questions, pulled his hands out in front of him and began counting on his fingers. I couldn’t help laughing a little, and he seemed surprised to hear it when he blinked at me.

“I guess it was that long. I never thought about it.” He worked on his drink for a couple more minutes and I finished mine, moving in front of him to take the bottle and refill my glass. “What about you?”

I paused before I asked, “Where do I come from?”

“Yeah.”

I shrugged instead of answering, which only prompted a pout, _a damn pout_ , to take up his face. “It’s not important.”

“But you just drudged up _my_ past, why not take a trip down memory lane?”

I leaned across the bar so I was inches from his face and held his gaze. I expected him to blush at the close proximity, maybe even back away, but he held his ground and kept a straight face. I narrowed my eyes at him and eventually said “Because I don’t feel like it.”

With that, I swiftly slid back, bristling internally at the fact that I had to get on my tiptoes to even hold level eye contact with a _kid_.

Which reminded me… “How old are you Eren?”

He frowned, but it didn’t look genuine. “You won’t tell me anything about you but you want me to keep giving away bits and pieces of my life?”

I scoffed in his face and waved my hand. “Fine, don’t. It’s not hard to do math and figure it out myself-”

“Twenty-four,” he blurted, suddenly seeming nervous. “Can you at least tell me how old you are? Throw me a bone here.”

“Twenty-eight,” I said without hesitation, and his eyes widened a bit.

“O-oh.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “I didn’t know you were that young.”

The look I shot him made him tense back up again before he began stammering apologies and attempting to explain himself. Did I look old? Hanji had always teased me about having a baby face to match my height, but that was because Hanji was a shit for brains. I wasn’t inclined to actually take anything she said seriously.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“I really didn’t mean anything by it! You’re really attractive and you look good for your age, so don’t take it the wrong way. Everyone here who isn’t an agent looks like they’re in their thirties.” He didn’t even blanch when he called me attractive, which I could only attribute to his brash attitude. I nodded to get him to stop talking and he sighed, rubbing his eyes.

“Sorry, by the way.”

He pulled his hand away and raised his eyebrows in question, eyes slightly glazed over. He had to be on his fourth drink by now and his nose was a little red. Cute.

“Sorry for what?”

“Bringing it all up,” I said softly, keeping it vague. Eren considered this for a moment before slouching forward in his stool and resting his head on the counter top.

“You’re kinda nice, Levi.”

I nearly spluttered and stared at him over the rim of my glass. His eyes were fixed on the window on the far side of the room, looking outside at the now dark sky. He chewed the inside of his lip, not looking at me, but not in an awkward way. To me it seemed like he was just zoning. _Most likely drunk_ , I decided.

But there was something more, and suddenly a sense of deja vu washed over me when I looked at Eren. His posture was lax, his hair disheveled from training all day, and his eyes were practically sparkling.

 _Isabel_.

The similarities between the two hit me like a ton of bricks. If the pain in my chest was anything to go by I definitely hadn’t put two and two together to realize they looked and _acted_ so alike.

A barrage of memories that had been suppressed for years started to surface and I quickly drowned them in more booze.

Eren didn’t comment on how I avoided making eye contact after that, but I attributed that more to the fact he was drunk off his ass. We stayed in the bar for a few more minutes until I plucked the bottle out of Eren’s hand when he tried to go for a fifth glass. The kid definitely didn’t know how to hold his liquor and I wasn’t about to deal with carrying him to his room and making sure he didn’t choke on his own vomit. I did, however, walk with him to the stairs that led down to where he slept and told him goodnight. I stayed at the top of the stairs to make sure I didn’t hear his body crash down the steps, and when the faint sound of his door closing was heard, I turned on my heel and headed for my own room.

I didn’t know what time it was, but I still ignored my bed and opted for the tiny desk that I kept clean and organized. I slumped in my seat and started working on reports for a few hours before I saw it was one o’clock in the morning. That’s when I decided tea would be ideal and I returned from the mess hall with a steaming cup of black tea.

_“This stuff is so bitter Levi, why do you drink it?”_

Isabel’s voice was ringing insistently in the back of my mind and I couldn’t ignore it.

_“You guys should just stick with hot chocolate.”_

_“I hate chocolate,” said Farlan._

_“Yeah but you like coffee which is also all bitter.”_

_Farlan squinted at her in confusion. “So?”_

_“So your opinion is invalid.”_

_Farlan began to shout, Isabel’s teasing successfully riling him up. She only rolled her eyes at him and pushed the teacup away from her with a smile._

_“You can have my tea,” she said to me._

_I tsked and picked up my own tea. “Your cup is dirty, I wouldn’t drink from that. And don’t waste my tea.”_

_Her smile disappeared and she began bantering with Farlan yet again, failing in her attempts to drag me in the middle._

The memory stung my eyes, so I cleared my head.

I dug through my desk until my fingers grazed over the soft fabric, and I pulled it from the drawer. It was the shittiest thing Isabel had made when she taught herself how to stitch, but she carried it with her everywhere. A bird, sewn to look a bit too wide into thin material that she kept in her pocket.

My fist curled around the tiny patch and I held on to it for the rest of the night, gently thumbing over the embroidery every so often.

Sleep evaded me, which wasn’t unusual, and I worked until streams of sunlight peeked their way over the hills surrounding the secluded building. I wasn’t even sure if I did sleep. If by any miraculous chance I had, I wasn’t aware of it. But Isabel’s patch was still clutched tightly in my hand, and instead of sticking it back in my desk drawer, I tucked it in my pocket when I finally decided to get ready.

 

*****

 

Erwin sent Nanaba to wake me up, but he should have known better; I was already up. Fully clothed and going over stock reports and training debriefs, I told Nanaba I’d be up to meet with him in a few minutes. I brought the paperwork with me along with my teacup and stopped by the mess hall to drop it in the sink, then went to the third floor.

Surprisingly Eren was inside the Meeting Room when I arrived, and I briefly noticed he looked like shit. Whether he had a hangover or not, his hair was disheveled and the bags under his eyes stood out against his tan skin. He smiled when he saw me and I nodded, moving to stand next to Hanji who was far too energetic this early in the morning as usual.

“Thank you all for coming, I know it’s a bit unorderly to do this so early in the morning but it’s rather prudent we get it out of the way now.” Mike strode forward with a blueprint that Erwin unrolled and pinned down with thumbtacks. Across the top was scrawled in thin, messy handwriting ‘Jinae’, and I knew immediately what Erwin was planning.

“Jinae is a smaller branch of the Military Police located on the outskirts of Trost. We’ve received intel and confirmed it through more digging that Titans may be involved in the branch’s recent activity.”

Titans. The Capital’s interior police force, mostly consisting of high class Military Police operatives who are hand selected to join. They were the ones who carried out anything too… private, to involve the Military Police. Most commonly they were the ones who ransacked the poorer areas and slaughtered families to lessen the waste of resources. I barely considered the thought when it popped in my head, but I wondered why Eren wasn’t recruited. Sixteen years of obedience gone unnoticed, and I was grateful for it.

“Makes sense they’re working through a smaller district, but they’re idiots to think we wouldn’t pick up on it,” said Nanaba.

“I don’t think they were particularly concerned we’d find out and do anything about it,” replied Erwin. “Regardless, if Titans are involved, it’s best we intervene as soon as possible.”

“As in tonight,” I stated. “That justifies you getting everyone up at the ass crack of dawn.”

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Eren, do you know anything about Jinae’s headquarters? Would the layout be similar to Trost’s?”

Eren scratched the back of his head, then shook it. “No. Shiganshina and Trost headquarters merged so extra buildings were built around the original Trost along with a bunch of rooms. It made us the biggest out of every district but only because we added onto it. I’ve never even been to Jinae.”

“So we have blueprints and inside help I’m assuming,” added Hanji, “but no set route?”

If her tone gave anything away, it was that this was indeed looking tough. If Titan’s were involved it could be damn well suicide mission level worthy. But Erwin held up his hand just as the chatter began and the room fell silent.

“We have a route mapped out by a few inside agents. They’ve given us the all clear, the only problem is it’s our only way in.”

“So if we fuck up we’re dead,” Mike clarified.

“Basically, yes.” Eloquent as always, Mike. “Jinae is small, but like I said, Titan’s could mean trouble. We’re taking a team of thirty, but I only want ten in the building at a time. The other twenty will cover the exits and I intend on situating a few snipers around the area as well.”

Erwin pulled out a list with names on it and handed it to me. “Levi, you’re leading the infiltration team. Eren, I want you with Levi as well. You know your way around Military Police defenses, Jinae or not. The other eight operatives that will follow are suitable for the task. Mike and Hanji will be leading the other twenty, which can be divided into two separate groups of ten if need be.” Erwin paused and tugged on his shirt collar, raising his eyes to look at everyone in the room. “This is short notice, but if we can’t clear out Jinae then there’s a chance we won’t succeed at Sina. I’m relying on each of your abilities to bring you back in one piece and victorious.”

I rolled my eyes at the over dramatic tone he had going. All the same, everyone nodded in agreement before filing out, leaving just me and Erwin at the small table.

He moved slowly until he was on the other side of the table facing me, his public demeanor gone, replaced with nothing but seriousness. “Do you think he can handle it?” Erwin asked, not specifying who he was referring to but I knew all the same.

“He’ll be fine. He’s a better fighter than Mike that’s for damn sure.”

“I’m serious Levi. It’s the first time he’s fighting his own people and I can’t risk him turning loose. He’s a great asset, but he’s also a liability. Put him down if it comes to that.”

I scowled at the table in front of me, sifting through some serious internal turmoil when Erwin added “I’m not asking you Levi. If you can’t then I will. Or Hanji, or Mike, or anyone else who won’t let personal feelings get in the way. That’s the reality.”

I met his cool stare evenly, a challenge glinting in his eyes. “Don’t insinuate that I _can’t_ or _won’t_. It’s fucking insulting.”

“Then I can trust you’ll take care of it if the time comes.”

Erwin put a lot of emphasis on the word ‘trust’, and I narrowed my eyes at him. “It won’t be a problem.”

 

*****

 

Erwin was quick to rally the selected agents who would be going on the Jinae mission. There were thirty in total, and I was only taking ten of them with me inside the building. What I was told was fairly limited, but I didn’t question my orders when Erwin told me I’d be taking my team through the back entrance.

We took the vans and my team loaded into the first one in the lineup. Since we’d be going to a different location Erwin wanted to give us time to get there. We’d break away from the formation and give ourselves about a half a mile wide berth between Jinae Headquarters and move in once Erwin gave us the all clear.

My eyes were currently trained on the road in front of me, but that couldn’t keep Eren bouncing his leg a mile a minute out of my peripheral.

“Calm down, Eren.” I said, not looking at him. I hadn’t looked at him since the meeting this morning.

“Sorry…” Leaning back in his seat, he looked over the attack plans Erwin had written up yet again. He’d read over them three times now. Obviously nervous.

“What are you worried about? Seeing someone you know? Getting shot again?”

A one sided staring contest began at that moment when he glared at the side of my head. “And who’s the one who shot me in the first place?”

I didn’t answer him. “Pull the stick outta your ass Eren, there’s other people here putting their faith in your abilities. If you get them killed it’s on you.”

The brutal truth sunk in quickly and his leg bouncing stopped. He folded up the papers on his lap and tucked them away into the glove box, sitting quietly for the rest of the ride.

When we reached the checkpoint marked off by Erwin to wait at, everyone filed out of the back of the van. Standard protocol took over and they checked their equipment as they went over their individual roles for tonight. We stood around for another ten minutes before Erwin finally messaged me that we were clear to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> firstly im super sorry for the wait! i know i took way too long with this chapter, and truth be told it's really because i don't like it. im content with it somewhat, but it's short and there was no way to incorporate the next part into it without it being all funky.  
> so the 'next part' will be in the next chapter, which means everyone is spared a cliffhanger.  
> but ! next chapter will also definitely be longer with some more action :^) which is my favorite ;^)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One step forward, two steps back

I tried my best to psych myself up for attacking Jinae Headquarters, but nothing worked. The possibility that I’d be shooting at my fellow agents- er, ex fellow agents, made me sick to my stomach. Speaking out against anything now was  _ not _ about to happen. 

Erwin told us to be ready by sundown and told all the selected operatives to go inside to review the plan of attack that was to be put into action tonight. By sundown, myself and everyone else involved was decked out in black attire and Levi was rounding up his group. Myself included. 

Being paired up with Levi wasn’t surprising, he’d essentially been in charge of me since I’d arrived to the Survey Corps. But him punching me in the crotch and being less than remorseful about it kinda,  _ maybe  _ created a bit of a rift. Only a small one. 

I was somewhat embarrassed. 

Nonetheless, I was ushered into the group by a handsy agent with chin length blonde hair. Her grin split her face in half, and it wasn’t exactly a welcoming sight. 

“I’m Hitch, sweet thing. Looks like we’ll be workin’ together tonight.” Her grin didn’t falter as Levi began explaining everyone’s individual jobs. Gunther and Erd were with us and each had specific jobs that were apparently essential to the mission. My job was to speak up if I noticed anything ‘off’. They were pretty vague. Everyone else was required to follow quietly, six feet in between each person with no talking. 

“Eren.” 

“I know what you’re going to say,” I said, not looking up from my dirt castle. “And you don’t need to. I’ll be fine.” 

Erd looked down at me over his nose and appeared to be positively bothered. Whether it was by me or something else I didn’t know. “You’ve looked like shit since you got in the van. Even before then.” 

I shrugged, chancing a glance up at him and noting his stiff posture and annoyed expression. “I’m nervous is all. Jinae may be small but anything can happen.” 

He considered my response for a moment before nodding, the movement so small I barely caught it. “I’m not an idiot Eren. Anyone with a brain could tell you were shitting your pants over going to a Military Police base. Do you think you’ll run into someone you know? Or are you looking to book it at the first opportunity?” 

I’d be lying if I said the idea of running from the Underground hadn’t come to me. But the part of me that considered it was significantly smaller than the part of me that wanted to help the less fortunate. And I know it sounded cheesy when I put it like that but it was truth, and it’s something I thought the Military Police stood for. Until, y’know, I was shown all the crappy shit our organization actually did. 

I wasn’t sure I wanted to stand for corruption any longer. 

I realized Erd was still staring down at me, his annoyance replaced with curiosity and something else I couldn’t place. 

“I’m not running back to the Military Police, so you can lay off.” I said it a bit harsher than planned but I didn’t apologize all the same. He regarded me with narrowed eyes and nodded again, stalking off towards the van. 

It was another five or so minutes until Levi told us all Erwin had given us the green light to go ahead. We ran swiftly through the field and covered the mile distance between the van and the building within seven minutes. It was at that point I noticed the towering fence in front of us that was without a doubt rigged with electricity and barbed wire. 

Surprisingly Erd stepped forward and slung the backpack he had strapped on to the ground. He pulled out four separate and intricate pieces of machinery and began clasping them together. Eventually he was holding a fairly large disk looking… thing. It was roughly the size of a beach ball and he attached three individual clasps to the base of the fence carefully. As soon as he switched it on there was a low hum, and Levi motioned for the group to stay put. 

He scaled the fence easily, stopping a few inches away from the top to pull out what looked like a pair of plyers from his back pocket. Working fast he cut the barbed wire that was coiled around the top of the fence in different places and tugged it loose, letting it fall on our side of the fence. He scrambled over and dropped carelessly, clutching his hand tight. I saw him wince and saw the blood dripping down his fingers from the wire and almost asked if he was alright, but as if he knew I would he silenced me with a look and wrapped his hand in a bit of gauze. 

It was almost like he’d known his hand would get fucked up ahead of time. Glad to know there was a plan with everything incorporated into it. 

“Go one at a time over, don’t stray more than two feet in any direction.” He said. No one asked any questions and began climbing, Hitch going first. I followed and eventually everyone was over the fence, save for Erd who was flipping some switches on the mechanical disk. The low hum that had been emitting while we climbed stopped and Erd nodded to Levi, who then began slinking along the side of the building. 

Everyone took off after Levi, but I hesitated and turned to look at Erd over my shoulder. He narrowed his eyes at me, probably remembering our early conversation, then nodded again. Levi’s words rang in my ears when I finally caught up with the group.  _ There’s other people here putting their faith in your abilities. If you get them killed it’s on you _ . 

I promised myself I wouldn’t let them down.

Levi held up his hand once we reached a small backdoor that most likely led to the lower levels of the building. Trost HQ had had something similar, but right away I could tell Jinae’s lower levels would be smaller and most likely utilized. Which meant we’d have to be careful. 

Gunther quickly got to his knees and pulled out a few metal rods no bigger than a toothbrush. He got to picking the lock quickly without any notice to the security camera  above the door. 

“Levi, the cameras,” I pointed out. 

“We waited for Erwin’s word to go because Hanji was taking care of the security systems.”

“Why did we have to deal with the fence then?” asked Hitch curiously. 

“The fence was too big and covered too much ground. We had the means to get through it without much of a problem so we did. Security cameras and lock guards in doors won’t be an issue until we leave. Then Hanji can flip them back on and it’s like nothing ever happened.” 

It was a reasonably good plan, but still risky. “You mean we’re not fighting?” 

“It Titans really are involved then no, not a chance. It’s a death sentence.” 

I could tell Hitch wanted to argue, but from the way she visibly bit her lip and frowned I knew she’d thought better than to argue with Levi. I, on the other hand, was torn between being grateful and being irritated. I didn’t want to kill people who could possibly recognize me and report me, but I hated having a wolf at my back. 

Before I got the chance to bring up my point however, Gunther stood and tucked his picks back into the black satchel he had slung over his shoulder. Levi held the door and motioned for everyone to file in. 

“Remember, six feet between everyone, no talking.” He said this as the first person, a shorter boy with red hair, passed through the door. Hitch went second and eventually Gunther went, which left me between him and Levi. 

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Levi said tersely. 

I gripped my gun tight in my right hand and nodded, following Gunther through the narrow halls of the first floor. 

 

*****

 

Things were uneventful at first. I’d followed Levi’s orders and only followed Gunther, trusting that the other agents knew the set route and wouldn’t mess up. Working in teams was something I did rarely, if at all when I was with the Military Police. I was a great agent but Shadis had agreed I was too hot headed and ruthless to work with others. God forbid someone would get hurt on a mission with me, I’d just leave them. 

At least that’s the impression I’d made. 

I liked to think I was a bit nicer than that. 

Regardless, my faith was in the Survey Corps now, and I had to trust that these people knew what they were doing. 

Once we found the main staircase, the red haired kid had stopped and waited for the rest of us to catch up. Levi walked past the group and pressed a few buttons on the wrist watch he had on. It beeped a few times and he pulled the door open. The process began again with the red head leading the rest of the agent's up the stairs and bypassing the second and third floor. It wasn’t until we reached the fourth landing that everyone actually began loading their guns. 

This must’ve been where the data we needed was stashed. 

Everyone filed past Levi but didn’t move anywhere. They continued to check their equipment, and two of the agents were watching either sides of the corridor the staircase let out in. 

“How come we aren’t seeing anyone?” I asked Levi. 

He checked the magazine in his gun then reloaded it and flicked the safety off. “Our inside sources made sure that we wouldn’t be waltzing through a crowd. That doesn’t mean we might not run into trouble though, so be careful. And quit talking.” 

That… didn’t really answer my question. But Levi walked past me and led the group down the hall without another look in my direction. 

At one point Levi threw his arm out with his fist clenched and everyone stopped moving. I heard voices from down the hall, but wherever they were they must have been far away enough that they didn’t see or make a point to check for us intruders. After that, things started to get weird for me. 

I got tense. My hand was on my gun at all times and I’d even made a point to draw my small, five inch hunting knife and grip that with my free hand. Every footstep that echoed around us had me skidding to look behind the group. Thankfully the formation had changed since reaching the fourth floor and I was in the back, so no one saw me getting my panties in a twist over every little sound. 

I seriously doubted that Hanji had the ability to hack into Military Police schematics and shut down the security cameras. And because I’d planted that doubt in my mind, I spent an abnormal amount of time scoping out the cameras that lined the ceilings and walls. Each time I saw one I kept expecting an alarm to go off and a flood of MP agents to come rushing around the corner, guns blazing. 

I didn’t buy the whole silent act that was going on. 

On queue, I saw a flash of movement down the hall to my left. Everyone else was ahead and had missed it, but I crouched down immediately and fixed my eyes on an older gentleman in worn jeans and a blazer. He didn’t see me right away and was alone, which meant this could be taken care of quickly and easily. His footsteps faltered when he saw me with my gun raised to his head and almost dropped the cup of coffee he had in his hand. 

“Ah-” his eyes widened in surprise, then his mouth dropped open. “I-intruder. There’s an intruder!” 

I couldn’t risk unwanted attention, so I lunged forward and frisbee’d the knife I’d been holding straight at him. It stuck into his head soundlessly, and his coffee slipped from his fingers and split along the tile. His body followed suit, sliding against the wall and sprawling in front of a utility door. 

Quickly and efficiently I opened the utility room door and pulled his body inside.  _ Anything to buy us more time unnoticed _ , I thought. I peeled his blazer off his blood soaked body and wiped up the coffee and what blood had dripped on to the floor with it, throwing it back into the room when I was done. I yanked my knife out of his head and wiped the blood on his shirt, then closed the door behind me as I slipped out and attempted to track down Levi. 

I didn’t have to go far, as the group had actually running into me going backwards. Levi was quick to grab the front of my shirt and yank me down to stare into his cold, angry eyes. 

“Where the  _ hell _ did you go? Do you think it’s fine to take off at a moment’s notice? I don’t care if you’re Military, Eren. You don’t know this turf and you cost us valuable time.” 

Was I intimidated? No. Shadis had pulled rank on me and smacked me around plenty of times if I’d done something to fuck up like this. But I hadn’t fucked up, and I made sure to convey that when I pulled Levi’s hand away from me and scowled at him. 

“I did you a favor. We were about to be caught and I took care of it.” 

His eyes flicked down to the flecks of blood that covered my arms and then back up to me. He looked shocked, but quickly masked it with a look of annoyance. “You could have said something, Brat. You still jeopardized the mission.” 

“The hell I did. If I’d made any noise we would have been caught. I was quick and quiet, that’s all that matters. Can we get back to it now?” 

Levi looked like he wanted to ask more, but my uneasy feeling wasn’t going away and I wanted to spend as little time in one area as possible. It reduced the chances of us getting caught and Levi must have considered this too. 

“Fine. Resume formation, everyone keep your eyes peeled.” He didn’t say it but his order pretty much stated  _ you were all careless, he saved your asses, don’t let it happen again _ . 

In Trost HQ there were a few picture frames that you would occasionally see on the walls. It was a neat, unspoken way to find out where the hell you were in the massive building. Jinae lacked any form of decor, so all the walls were barren and white. It was starting to make me nauseous and twitchy. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been walking, but after three abrupt stops to avoid detection and many turns, Gunther showed Levi the map route we’d been following. 

Levi scanned it then headed straight for a door on the left side of the hallway. He tried the handle, but when it didn’t twist to open, he simply brought his foot up and kicked the door in.

“C-captain?!” Hitch’s voice was hushed but still loud. 

“We don’t have time,” was all Levi said to explain himself. He walked right past Gunther who had already readied his picking tools to no avail. The room was large and empty, the walls lined with computer processors and in the center were towering systems with wires sticking out every which way. 

On the other side of the room, two men who clearly worked in IT stood up in alarm to the noise. When they saw Levi heading straight for them they scrambled to hit the alarm, but Levi exerted no energy trying to stop them when he lifted his gun and fired two shots. The sound was muffled from the silencer barrel he’d screwed on to his weapon and the workers went down fast. 

I knew I had my poker face on now, but none of the other agents (save for Gunther) seemed used to Levi’s actions. Everyone of them had their mouths hanging open in shock, and some looked to be struggling with whatever morals they had. 

“They… were unarmed…” mumbled the red haired kid from before. He was staring at their bodies then looked at Levi, then at me. “Is that really okay?” 

I blinked at the kid. “If you’re weak, you die. It’s that simple really.” 

I wasn’t trying to help him. In this line of work you were either suited to watch heads roll or you weren’t. Something told me that most of the agents here trained to work in the field but had limited opportunities. 

Up ahead Levi had fished a few USB devices out of his pocket and tossed one to Gunther, then one to me. I caught it quickly and looked around.

“Eren, check the main console. You probably know more about their safeguards than I do. Gunther, with me on the computers. The rest of you, keep watch. 

After watching their Captain take out two helpless IT workers, everyone was quick to obey his commands and filed towards the door. They took point around it and I got to work. I’d never really used the consoles that were in Trost, Armin was usually the one to do that and bring me the information I needed. I’d become codependant on him without realizing it. All the same, I knew the basics. 

Look up what I want to know and input my Military ID as a password. But doing that would also give away I was with the enemy. Without a doubt someone would realize I was alive and come after the Survey Corps, whether as a rescue or as a termination. 

“Levi.” He was at my side quickly, eyeing the screen as if that was where the problem was. 

“Find anything?”

“No, it won’t be hard to. But to get the data I’d need to use my own ID code. It’s like a safeguard against just  _ anyone  _ trying to get to secret files.”

“So, what, are you not ranked high enough to get the info we need?” 

“No, I can get it-” 

“Then what is the problem? Are you stupid?”

“I’m not stupid. I’m thinking everything through, actually, unlike you.”  _ Please don’t kill me _ . “If I use my ID they’ll be able to find out it was me who accessed the information. They’ll know I’m alive.”

The scowl Levi was wearing didn’t disappear, and I could tell he was resisting the overwhelming urge to plant his foot back between my legs. But he closed his eyes and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“...I see your point.”

“So what do we do?” 

He considered this for a moment before deciding. “Go through with it. We knew we couldn’t keep you secret for long, and if there’s a chance they discover you’re alive by checking the systems then so be it. It’s well worth the risk.”

Maybe it’s because I was still looking out for myself but I  _ strongly  _ disagreed with that. I was thinking about the off chance I’d get re-captured by the Military Police and interrogated, beaten, killed, the whole shebang, just for helping the enemy. Which was actually completely logical. 

Christ, I felt like a little kid talking back for the first time in his life or something. 

I quickly got to work on the console and pulled up all recent and relevant data on Titans and their comings and goings through Jinae. Turns out they’d been around a lot more than we anticipated once I punched in my ID. 

“This is bad,” I stated to Levi, but the whole room heard me. 

Gunther appeared at my side and read the reports, scratching his head. “Erwin definitely needs to hear this.” 

“Yeah,” Levi agreed. He picked up one of the USB devices he’d set on the console earlier and plugged it in, working quickly to copy specific files only. As soon as he pulled it out however, everything went to shit.

Alarms started ringing and the caged red lights on the walls above the doors started flashing. An automated woman’s voice was saying something but over the shrill echoes of the alarm I couldn’t hear what she was saying. Hitch and the other operatives who were surrounding the door clasped their hands over their ears in surprise. Gunther pulled a pistol out of his waistband and looked to Levi, his features contorted into a grimace. 

“Damn Hanji, she was sloppy!” cursed Levi. He shoved the USB back in his pants pocket and drew his gun. “Stay close to one another and get back to the stairwell! If we move slow we’re boxed in so no stopping for anything!” 

I could feel my heart racing in my chest and the sweat dripping down my neck. I was hanging on to my own control by a thread, pure adrenaline and instinct threatening to take over entirely. Levi lead the group through the halls, chancing glances at the crumpled map we’d been using to make sure he was going the right way. We passed the narrow corridor I’d encountered earlier on with the utility worker and I knew we were almost to the staircase. From there, it was a straight shot down three floors then out the back door. Erd should still be waiting for us by the fence. 

At least, I hoped he was. 

Levi reached into his pocket and yanked out his cell phone which had buzzed to life and hurled it at me, his pace never slowing. Erwin’s name illuminated the screen and I answered without thinking. 

“Levi! Where are you?” There were sirens blaring in the background on his end too. 

“Not Levi, Eren actually. And we’re nearly at the fourth floor stairwell.”

“Why’d you answer- never mind,” he cut himself off. “Hanji’s security blocks caved the second you accessed heavily classified information Eren. You have a massive wave of Military Police officers headed up the South stairwell and they’ve disabled the elevators.”

I relayed the information to Levi, but if anything he looked relieved. “We came in through the opposite side of the building, they’ll be chasing us through but we’ll be gone by the time they get here.”

“Did you catch that?” I asked Erwin. 

“Yeah, now focus on getting yourselves out of there.”

“Will do.” I stuffed the phone in my own pocket and gripped my gun tight to steel my nerves. Hitch and the other agent looked nervous as hell and winded for running so long. I briefly wondered if they’d even ever been in a situation like this before. 

“Not a step farther,” growled a voice ahead. Levi skidded to an abrupt halt and raised his gun. There was a slim man with a gun of his own raised in front of him, a circular pair of glasses situated on the tip of his nose. There was a number of reinforcements behind him, each one wearing the crest of the royal family on their uniforms. 

Titans.

Every agent on our side followed Levi’s lead and readied to fire their weapons at the looming threat. 

“Don’t be rash, Captain Levi. You’re outnumbered. Whatever outside help you were waiting for it’s gone now.” The Titan sneered at us, his eyes scanning over the measly ten operatives he could probably metaphorically step on. Maybe even literally. I’d been the best the Military Police had, but I’d never fared against a Titan before. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. 

The man’s eyes settled on me and they widened momentarily in surprise before narrowing at me. “Eren Jaeger. I’d wondered where you’d gone.” 

“I’m flattered everyone’s got me on their mind lately,” I jabbed back at him. I saw Levi tense in my peripheral and the Titan threw his head back in a laugh. 

“Oh that’s rich, I never considered this. I thought you’d died in that back alley… how many years ago was it?”  _ What? _ “I completely forgot. Yet here you are, making a mess of everything yet again. You should really probably just die.” A shot rang out and I was suddenly sprawled on the floor. Levi heaved himself off me quickly and half pulled, half shoved me into a corridor to fend off the now raining gunfire. I didn’t even get the chance to thank him for saving me before he was shouting in my face. 

“You know that guy?!” Levi demanded. His gun was at his side but he twitched it upward, unsure whether to actually turn his weapon on me or not. 

“No! I have no clue who he-” A bullet erupted out of the wall and sent plaster cascading down on us both. 

“Shit, this is bad…” Levi grimaced and I turned to look where he was staring over my shoulder. Two of our ten operatives were dead in the middle of the hallway, and the others were scattered in the surrounding corridors. “This was our only way out.”

A strange sense of deja vu swept over me as I fished Levi’s phone out of my pocket and flipped the front facing camera on. Using it as a mirror I counted nine Titans swarming the hallway and two peering out from the hallway we’d been running towards. There were definitely more.

“Call Erwin, tell him to send Hanji’s squad up the North staircase to the fourth floor. We can box them in and fight our way out with a double front.” I thrust the phone at Levi and surprisingly, he complied. Though the look on his face told me he wasn’t happy about taking orders from me. I heard him brief Erwin on our situation, and in the meantime I took point behind a planter near where Levi and I were hidden. I started firing off shots left and right, hitting a target once in awhile and demolishing the corners of the walls Titans were hiding behind. 

“Eren! We’ve got reinforcements on the way, two minutes tops.” Levi tugged on my arm and I knew the motion, immediately pulling away from the planter and letting Levi take my place. I reloaded and looked around the hallway, eyeing Hitch up ahead. She was closer to the main body of the horde and was clutching her arm tightly, blood seeping between her fingers. 

“Shit, they’re getting slaughtered!” 

“Don’t be stupid Eren!” barked Levi, fixing me with a look in between firing his gun. “Get down! You’re not sticking your neck out on the line with that guy targeting you.” 

To hell with this. Titans were closing in on Hitch’s position and we’d follow suit eventually. Getting killed now or later didn’t make a difference, and I’d be damned if I’d play some sole survivor card at next Thanksgiving. 

I shot out from our hiding place and ignored Levi’s yelling as I ducked and rolled across the hall into the corner Hitch had wedged herself in. 

“The hell are you doing?! You’re gonna get yourself killed, dipshit!” she hissed at me through clenched teeth. I picked up her gun and checked the magazine, then picked up her hand and shoved the handle into her palm. 

“You can still shoot, so don’t give up and cower here. Don’t die just cause it might be easier.” 

“No shit, dumbass! Anymore inspirational speeches before we get our heads blown off?” 

“Eren, enough of this hide-n’-seek. You can’t hope to fight Titans, it’s impossible. You’ll die eventually,” the Titan leader called out from far down the hallway. “Though I’m surprised you managed to last this long.” 

“Bite me you shitty old man!” I didn’t look as I threw my arm around the corner and fired off a random shot. There was a grunt and someone hit the ground with an audible thud. 

I heard more swearing on the Titan’s end and the sound of a door getting thrown open, then more gunfire. 

“Eren,” called Levi. “Erwin’s here! Get everyone’s asses out of here!” He was already moving to pull fallen operatives up by their arms and dragged them to the corridor we’d been previously ducked in. I double checked to make sure the coast was clear from any raining bullets and ushered Hitch to the same area. 

“Levi!” I heard Erwin call from somewhere amidst the madness. There was no reply, but I didn’t have time to dwell on that. Eventually the remaining agents who were left were all corralled into the corridor and were ready with guns drawn. Even Hitch, who was clearly gritting her teeth against the wound on her arm. 

“Don’t stop for anything. Mow them down, they’re distracted. We can still get out of her alive.” Short, sweet, and straight to the point. Erwins distraction would make or break the mission; either the rest of us got out successfully, or my team along with Erwin’s died. 

No pressure or anything. 

Everyone moved at once, staying low and rushing the Titan’s. The situation played out somewhat smoothly all things considered. The Titans were effectively trapped in a two front stand off and I’d be lying if I said the look on the Titan leader’s face didn’t give me some satisfaction. He saw me break off from the main formation and move towards him and spun around, eyes crazed behind his glasses. 

He let out a definitive roar and pulled a knife out of nowhere, thinking I was going to attack him short range. I took advantage of his miscalculation and jumped back at the last second, shooting him in the foot. 

“Yaagh!” His weight collapsed under him and he fell to the floor abruptly. 

“Eren, let’s go!” Levi had reappeared at the end of the hallway, a clear path cut straight through the Titans for me. I didn’t hesitate for a second, taking off after him and throwing open the door to the staircase. We were outside in a matter of seconds it seemed, and we regrouped with Hanji and Erwin. Erd had followed us once we made it over the fence with his backpack and looked puzzled as ever, but Hanji beat him to the questioning. 

“What the hell happened?!” Hanji yelled, clearly exasperated. 

“We’ll discuss it later,” muttered Levi. He turned his cold and calculating stare to me, “I’m much more interested in why the Titan leader was on a first name basis with Eren.” 

Hanji blinked. “What?” 

“I’d like to know that too,” I clarified. He hadn’t looked familiar, and I was positive I’d never seen the man in my life, but he definitely knew me. When I’d heard his voice, that struck something in me. I was certain after everything that had just happened I’d known him at some point. He’d even mentioned leaving me for dead when I was a kid. I was completely and utterly lost. 

At that moment Erwin called us over to the vans and sent Levi and Hanji on ahead in the first group. He stopped me as I was about to climb in the back and directed me to another vehicle. 

“Ride with me, Eren.” It didn’t sound menacing, but my nerves were on edge. 

I climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up, fixing my eyes on the glovebox and not moving them from there. Erwin closed the driver’s side door and started the engine, not looking at me once. It was about two minutes before he even spoke, and when he did, he sounded stern and serious. 

“What happened in that building, Jaeger?” 

I swallowed the bile that had risen in my throat and looked at him through the corner of my eye. “Titan’s showed up. The leader knew me.” 

I thought he would at least be surprised to hear it, but he wasn’t phased in the slightest. 

“Did you get the data?” 

“Levi has it.” 

Silence. 

“I’m going out on a limb and taking your side in all this.” 

I scrunched my brow together and looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?” 

He spared me a quick look before focusing on the road again. “I understand what Levi must be thinking. He’s pieced this together the way it played out. He thinks you’re working for the Titan’s and a particularly stupid Titan gave you up.”

“But that’s not-” 

“I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that everything came across that way. I’m choosing to take your side and trust you.” 

“You don’t…” I chose my words carefully. “You don’t seem like the kind of person who trusts anyone.” 

Surprisingly he laughed. “True enough. But you’ve cooperated this far, and from what I saw when I found you in that hallway, you don’t seem to like that Titan leader very much. You shot him right in the foot. I overestimated him a great deal.” 

It was at this point my heart fell into my ass, as I was suddenly face to face with the barrel of a gun. Erwin’s eyes never left the road as he held his weapon to my head, and I didn’t move an inch. “But don’t think that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been staged. Anyone can shoot an ally in the foot. Anyone can  _ say _ they’re on your side. When it comes down to it, Levi has his right to be suspicious, as does everyone else who made it out of that hallway.” 

He pulled his gun away from my head and placed it on the dashboard, finally looking at me. “Remember that next time, Eren. We have the data we need, but that reunion just set us back a few steps. That makes what happens at Sina all the more prudent. I have faith you won’t hesitate while we’re there, it could cost people their lives.” 

I didn’t move from where I’d frozen, thinking over everything he’d said carefully. He was right, and entirely justified in doing what he did. The Underground was under Erwin’s jurisdiction, an entire fortress of ‘knowns’. I was the first ‘unknown’ to really be dealt with this closely. And after hearing what that Titan leader had to say, I couldn’t really be mad that he was holding me at arm's length. 

“Do you understand?” he asked me. 

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I do. But don’t go underestimating  _ me _ now.” 

He raised an eyebrow curiously. 

“Sure, there was a bump in the road. Maybe a pretty big bump. But I’m damn well gonna find out why some old fart knows anything about my past. That much doesn’t sit well with me. I’ll shoot him in his other creaky foot next time too. Then in the head. I don’t need your approval or trust to do that.” 

Erwin was quiet for a moment, then slowly a smile stretched across his face. “I look forward to it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love giving myself more to consider in stories I had a set plan for :')  
> oh well.  
> also I have no excuse for taking so long to update. I'm just awful that way  
> comments/kudos always appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning to where your problems began isn't always the best way to go about fixing things.

My fist moved before my mind could catch up. It’s target? Hanji’s face. Her eyes widened when she realized what was happening, but didn’t react quick enough to dodge it.

But Mike did. He’d been anticipating this sort of response from me, and he’d gotten it. His arm snaked around my waist and heaved me back just before my fist connected with Hanji’s nose.

“Calm down,” he practically growled in my ear. I could see Levi leaning against the wall behind Hanji, watching my outburst. Erwin was somewhere behind me but had remained quiet all throughout the meeting.

“This is bullshit!” I shouted. My blood was pounding in my ears, blocking out Mike’s harsh breathing as he struggled to get me to stop fidgeting.

Hanji held up her hands as if she were calming a wild animal. “Eren, blood work doesn’t lie. He is related to you.”

“Fuck no! That asshole isn’t related to me, I don’t know him. He isn’t my father!”

She shook her head, the loose strands of hair from her ponytail brushing her tense shoulders. “I never said he was your father Eren. Only that he’s related to you in some way.”

Mike’s arm tightened across my torso and he managed to get ahold of my left arm, tugging it down to my side. “Eren calm down. We’re in the same boat as you we just found this out. Quit the tantrum.”

I abruptly stopped thrashing long enough to feel the ground beneath my toes. That brief moment of contact was all I needed to push up and kick my knees over my chest. The momentum and surprise of the move had Mike letting me go and crashing to the floor beneath me. I hastily kicked my legs to the side and landed with Mike wheezing at my feet.

Levi stared wide eyed at me, as did Hanji. Erwin was still behind me watching everything unfold quietly.

“You knew,” I interrupted with a gruff voice. “You suspected way before you knew. That’s why you ran the test. But no one thought to tell me _anything_?! No one figured I had a right to know the dick of a Titan who’d been shooting at me not even two weeks ago was related to me?”

Hanji opened her mouth then closed it. She eyed Levi through her peripheral as though he’d step up to the plate and help her out for once, but of course, he didn’t. I didn’t know whether out of fear or plain boredom.

“It’s been a week and a half since Jinae and no one said anything to me. No one’s said anything to me about shit. Everyone’s playing a massive game of keep-away-from-Eren and this is why? You guys think I’m some implant or something?”

“No one said anything about that Eren,” Levi finally said. “You’re paranoid now. Calm down-”

“If one more person tells me to calm down I’m going to set fire to every door in this building.”

He clearly didn’t believe me, but he pursed his lips and switched tactics. “You’ve been a big help Eren. We couldn’t have gotten as far in Jinae as we did without you there. Everyone recognizes that, especially me. It was me who figured something was going on with that Titan, and I had his blood on my gear. I had it analyzed. If you want to get mad at anyone here, get mad at me. Not Mike. And for Christ sake get off the floor, it’s fucking filthy.”

Mike was already sitting up and scooted away from me.

I didn’t know what to say anymore. I was furious still, I was itching to hit something knowing that I might feel better if I did. But I was also… sorta hurt. I’d never cared what people thought about me, I only cared that my superiors thought I performed each mission and job to the best of my ability. Now I was faced with a situation where the people I was working with didn’t trust me. They’d kept something this important away from me, either because they believed I was with them under false pretenses or because…

I dunno, maybe they were just assholes.

I didn’t hide the frustrated sigh that escaped my lips before I spun on my heel and made for the door.

“Where are you going?” called Hanji. She sounded worried, which I didn’t care about.

Throwing open the door I called back “Out,” and stormed to the top floor to drink myself into a mindless stupor. Not that it mattered anyways, I was hardly doing anything around the base the past week and a half. Now I knew why; I was an untrusted suspect all over again.

On my way to the bar my mind wandered to the things that could have been done in the time these people were keeping me out of the loop. Erwin had denied me entry into three different War Room meetings, and while I knew why now, I also knew it was a massive waste of fucking time. We could have gone over Sina attack plans. We could have briefed the implants that Levi said were in Sina relaying reports.

We could have been so much more prepared for the massive and dangerous attack that was taking place soon, but we weren’t. Instead we now knew some pointless piece of information.

Some bastard Titan was related to me. Who was he? If we were related, was that how he’d known who I was in Jinae?

I stopped in front of the bar door and forced myself to take a deep breath. _You’re working yourself up over nothing, Eren. It doesn’t matter if he’s related to you or not._ He could be the damn King of the whole world and that wouldn’t stop me from putting a bullet in his head.

I pushed the door open and took my usual seat soundlessly. Reaching behind the counter, I produced a bottle of something, I didn’t care what, and opted to drink straight out of it instead of getting a glass. The liquid burned on the way down and I relished in the feeling.

I’d hoped to get drunk without interruption, but that was clearly too much to ask once Levi threw the door open and stormed in. It hadn’t even been ten minutes. He already looked irritated, which didn’t bode well for me.

“So things don’t go your way and you run away to drink yourself into oblivion?” He eyed the bottle in my hand and strode forward to grab it. I pivoted in my stool so my back was to him and held it away from us both.

“Shut up, I don’t feel like dealing with any of you right now.”

“You’d rather throw a tantrum in peace?” His voice got higher as if he were speaking to a child, which drove me to glare at him over my shoulder.

“Fuck. Off.”

“Do you remember what I told you when you first came here?”

What the fuck? Of course I didn’t. That was close to a month ago. “No. Don’t see why something from that long ago matters.”

He was in front of me before I blinked and had the bottle out of my hands before I could stop him. He slammed it on the countertop and looked back at me, his serious grey eyes narrowed in borderline desperation. “I told you your job was to help convince other Military Police agents to quit listening to the Capital. A month might seem long to you, I’m not gonna tell you it isn’t. But in the month you’ve been here we’ve hit one stronghold and lessened the Military Police’s agent force by a whopping _two_. You and Berthold.”

Taking a step back, he sighed and sat on the stool next to me. “I despise pointless death, Eren. You can prevent that before we rush into Sina and wind up killing more people who were kept in the dark as long as you were. Fuck the Titan you’re related to. Fuck Erwin and Hanji, fuck the meetings, alright? Just get these people on our side.”

“If only it were that damn easy,” I muttered with an edge to my voice. “‘Hey guys, the Military is a farce and you should all band together with a bunch of sewer dwellers!’ Great idea, we’ll have an army by sundown.”

At that, Levi was out of his seat and had my face shoved into the counter. The death hold he had on my wrist tightened when I squirmed, and I was pissed that I’d now had two older people restrain me in one day.

“Gonna flip me over your shoulder like you did to Mike? You’re a great fighter Eren. Do it if you can.”

“Fuck off, what the hell do you people want from me? I tried helping and look what it got me; some Titan family member and a room full of rebel fighters who don’t trust me to do jack shit!” I jerked my shoulder back to lessen the pain from the counter’s edge, but Levi just pushed right back.

“It isn’t so black and white Eren. Erwin told me to kill you at Jinae if you turned on us. I thought I was going to have to once that Titan leader showed up. I didn’t have to. You made the choice to join us after hearing what the Capital has done, why can’t those other agents be the same?”

“I didn’t peg you as the sort to care about enemy soldiers so much,” I spat, my cheek still being smothered into the wood of the countertop.

Levi eased off a bit, but not enough for me to sit up or throw him off. “I told you I hate pointless deaths. Maybe it hits closer to home when it’s someone I’ve worked with, but there’s no point. This is a fight to end the corruption of the Capital and them resisting and wasting agents to prevent it is disgusting.”

Part of me wanted to laugh at how serious he sounded. Even Shadis had taught me losing people was a normal part of what we did. When an agent died, everyone else could pay respects and mourn however they wanted. But that dead agents locker was simply cleaned out and given to a new recruit. No wasted tears on their things being thrown out like it was nothing. By the end of the day things are exactly as they were prior to their death. People moved on quickly, and all that mattered was that the job was done.

It’s how things had always been for me, and I didn’t know how to feel knowing Levi possibly had more compassion than me. Was that possible? Who knew?

“Get off.” The fight had left me, and at this point I just wanted to drink some more. Levi must have picked up on it because he backed off. He did, however, take the bottle I’d been nursing and stash it back behind the counter.

“You’re no use passed out drunk. Go to sleep.”

“You’re not my mom.” _Why the hell are you acting like a seven year old, Eren? Why?_

Levi raised an eyebrow at me, his usual scowl settling in again like second nature. “No I’m not, but you look tired, the bags under your eyes have gotten worse since Jinae. You should catch up on sleep before any more missions.”

I instinctively reached up and touched the dark rings under my eyes I’d neglected to notice. But Levi had noticed them. Was it only him or was I that far gone? It reminded me of the days Petra would scold me for getting too banged up on jobs. Or even when Armin would stay with me when I was stuck in the Med Wing overnight to watch movies.

Sasha had done that for me the night HQ was attacked.

Fuck, I missed my friends. I never did find out if they were okay after going to Shadis’ house. There was no way to find out without making it known that I was alive. But since I’d used my ID code at Jinae, there was a chance they’d picked up on the minuscule blip on the map of my whereabouts. If they were smart they’d stay put. Maybe one day I could track them down and explain everything.

I shoved the heel of my hands into my eyes, realizing I’d started to get emotional over something as mundane as missing my friends. _What the hell was wrong with me?_ I considered everything that had happened in the past week. I’d isolated myself, angry at Erwin shutting me out of meetings when I’d only wanted to help. Drinking and smoking on the roof was something I’d picked up after realizing Bertholdt was asked to train recruits for a few days. Learning I was related to that Titan asshole definitely took its toll even if I did only experience anger.

I wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for a few years. Let things here take care of themselves. Maybe I’d wake up to a world of picture perfect anarchy.

I looked over my shoulder at Levi. He’d moved to the window and held a cigarette to the open panes. I briefly wondered how he’d gotten roped into working in the Underground. I’d never heard him mention his origins before, but then again it probably wasn’t something he liked to talk about.

I could relate to that, whether it was true in his case or not.

“Sorry,” I broke the silence in the room. He puffed on his cigarette some more as he turned to face me. “For saying that stuff. I don’t think you guys are sewer dwellers.”

A hint of a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth and he covered it with the hand holding the cigarette. “It’s fine. You’re not completely wrong. Then again we never were first class down here.”

“Have you always lived down here?”

Levi paused, his entire body unmoving. It didn’t even look like he was breathing. His eyes narrowed for a second before he shifted again and took another drag of his cigarette.

“Sorry, forget I said anything.”

“It’s fine,” he corrected immediately. “I was underground until I was twenty-two. Then I went to the surface to see what all the hype was about. Saw crime, participated in some of it myself, then Erwin contacted me asking me to help him run this organization. It had been around for a while but it never was as successful until a few years ago. I showed up with a few people I met on the surface who wanted to help. The rest is history.”

“So everything was hunky dory before you went to the surface?”

“Obviously not, but nothing is perfect down here.”

“Who came with you after Erwin recruited you?”

At that I visibly saw him tense, and he bent forward to extinguish his cigarette. “No one worth mentioning.”

 _Ah, so it was like that_. “They’re dead, then.”

His cold, calculating eyes zeroed in on me and I knew I’d struck a nerve. My face remained passive nonetheless, and I stared back at him silently. A muscle in his jaw ticked, and he clenched and unclenched it a few times.

I actually thought things were going to stay that way; quiet and tense. So, I slid out of my stool and started for the door. If he didn’t want to talk about it I wasn’t gonna pressure him. I understood perfectly well.

“You remind me of her,” his voice was clipped as he spoke. “Isabel. I worked with her for four years. Your eyes are like hers. It’s weird.”

He spoke in rushed but casual sentences, as if he was cutting off the emotions that came with thinking of this person. Blinking back instinctively warranted a tight smile from him. “It’s weird?”

He nodded slowly, looking straight into my eyes. “I noticed it that one night you were drunk off your ass and revealed you were fresh out of puberty. You’re a lot like her when you’re drunk.”

“Twenty-four isn’t fresh out,” I countered, getting all defensive. Not to mention I sort of acted like a child when I was drunk. How old had she been?

“Might as well be with your tantrums.” Smirking, he turned to look back out the window and relaxed a bit, the tension in his shoulders bleeding away slowly. “It was my fault she died. A lot of agents die because of your orders when you’re in command. It’s shitty, but you try not to shoulder any guilt.”

He looked somewhere over my shoulder and puffed his chest up with a sigh. “How old was she?”

His hesitation was apparent in the way he narrowed his eyes again and avoided looking at me further. After another minute he answered, his voice low in his throat. “Nineteen.”

Fuck. That had to sting.

He cut off somewhat abruptly and stood straight as if he’d hit a switch. The emotion on his face cleared and he looked me over once, pushing off the wall by the window and heading towards me. I’d never commented on Levi’s height, it was honestly like asking for an early death in my opinion. But he didn’t seem to mind the obvious way I tilted my head down to look at him since he was roughly five inches from me. His eyes were flickering between both of mine, and it took everything in me not to back up and put on a pair of sunglasses or something.

Yeah, they were pretty eyes. No doubt about it. But no one had ever stared like this before.

Leaning in closer didn’t seem possible, since he was so much smaller than me and my personal space bubble had long since popped. But he managed to get right in my face, still scanning my eyes without a word.

“Yours are bluer than hers,” he finally said, and stepped back enough for me to look him in the eyes without my head trained downward.

I swallowed and opened my mouth to say something. But nothing came to mind. I’d never seen Levi so… emotional? That wasn’t the right word. Open was a word for it. He was being really open with me. It was endearing to see, and I prayed to whatever higher power existed to please not let this turn around in my face with Levi laughing or something like that.

It finally dawned on him how close we were, and he sighed and stepped back. “No more drinking. I expect you help with training again from here on out. I don’t know what to tell you about the meetings other than I’ll talk with Erwin and Hanji.”

He was out the door before I could respond. I didn’t know whether to be grateful or upset. I wasn’t sure what had just happened; Levi didn’t seem the type to share his feelings easily, so yeah, a part of me felt kinda special. But then again it could have all been bullshit.

 _No way, the look was real_. The look of someone who had lost the only people who mattered. I’d seen it plenty of times during jobs. Those were the ones that were the most draining.

I thought about the parents I’d never had, met, remembered, blah blah blah. I was bitter about the whole thing and probably always would be, but what had they been like? Did I have siblings? The Titan leader came to mind but I shoved that thought the hell down. I still didn’t know how to feel about him.

I looked back at the open door and stepped out of the bar, promising myself I’d try to help as much as I could. Even if I was still really, really confused after tonight.

 

*****

 

“I’m sorry Eren but there’s no way I can breach that kind of a firewall.” Hanji looked at me with pity, which only frustrated me further. I didn’t want pity, I just wanted answers.

“Please, there has to be something you can do. I can’t just go on not knowing, you guys ran the blood test in the first place! Just tell me how close a relative he is.”

Since discovering my nonexistent family wasn’t so nonexistent I’d been driving myself up the wall with “what ifs”. What if the Titan knew more about my past? What if the Titan possibly murdered my family and has returned to finish what he started by killing me? He seemed old enough to be my dad, what if he was my dad?

Stupid shit like that.

I’d come to Hanji with a request to find out more about the man, but she turned me down flat.

“It doesn’t work that way. I can’t just throw blood in a DNA scanner and present your ancestry on a silver platter. We just don’t have the tech.” She gripped the files she carried tight to her chest and tried to give me a reassuring smile. “I’m really sorry Eren, I wish I could help.”

She left me standing on the side of the training grounds, hunched over with disappointment. What the hell did she mean she wished she could help? She _could_ help by finding a way to narrow down where this Titan fell on my family tree.

I spun on my heel and strode back to the tent in the middle of the grounds. Levi was out in a meeting with Erwin, one he assured me I didn’t need to be included in. I took his word for it and wound up running gun reloading exercises for an hour. He still wasn’t back yet so I was left to my own devices.

I sat at the desk, resting my head on top of it to close my eyes and think. Hanji was a dead end, but I wasn’t about to give up on the topic. I didn’t want to meet with the Titan again, he’d been shooting at me and seemed predominantly focused on killing me. I considered asking Levi for help allocating resources, but I didn’t know how he’d react to me suddenly taking an interest in something like this after our discussion the night prior.

I still caught myself thinking of how close he’d gotten to me. I didn’t know what to make of it.

I heard agents laughing outside the tent as they walked by, drawing me from my thoughts. I sat back in the chair and laced my fingers together. It was at that moment when it hit me. The perfect solution to my problem. Though it was a perfect and dangerous and possibly one way solution to my problem.

I shot out of the tent in search of Bertholdt, knowing that he’d been spending most of his time with Nanaba monitoring the Underground’s tech support. I only knew because I’d tried to speak with him in the mess hall but he brushed me off to go fix a security camera.

If my memory served me correctly, he should be on the same floor as the War Room at the end of the hall. I made my way up the stairs and took a left, ignoring the looks from the agents standing guard outside the War Room. I knocked twice on the door and was met with a tired and cranky looking Nanaba.

When was the last time she’d slept?

“What a pleasant surprise,” she said not so pleasantly. “What do you need, kid?”

“Is Bertholdt here?” I peered over the top of her head easily and saw the giant hunched over a monitor. He perked up once he heard his name and smiled when he saw me.

“Hey Eren. Need something?” He walked to the door and Nanaba took her leave, heading back to a small table covered in paperwork I could only imagine was hell to go through.

“You worked in IT back at headquarters right?” He seemed thrown by the direct question but nodded all the same.

“It was more fixing tech and analyzing schematics but I helped in IT too, yeah. Why?”

“Did you ever see the machinery in the Med Wing? Like a lab or something of the sort?”

His brows rose. “Of course, we weren’t exactly short on money for that stuff at the time.”

“What about one of those machines that you put the vials of blood in and it spins them around and stuff. Any fancy equipment like that?”

“Yeah, plenty equipment like that. Eren what’s going on? You’re not thinking of going back are you?”

I sure as hell was if it meant getting some answers about my long lost asshole of a family member. I’d be damned if I let an opportunity like this pass by without doing something.

“Of course not, I just need to know if there’s anything like that here. Thanks for the help.” It was a half assed lie and one that I worked out of my mouth quickly. Either Bertholdt didn’t care or bought it, because when I turned to leave the door clicked shut behind me relatively quickly.

Hanji was probably in the War Room with Erwin and Levi, which hopefully left the lab empty. I doubted she locked the door considering the quality of the doors and locks in the building. The locks were more likely to break and get stuck than they were to open with any key.

The lab was at the bottom of the building near the emergency exit and sure enough, the door was unlocked. I was pretty sure Hanji had an assistant but at this time of day, he was either in the mess hall or with Hanji upstairs, so I wasn’t too worried.

My file was on top of the lab counter, and the vile so conveniently labeled “Jaeger” was to the left of it in a vial rack. I plucked up both samples and made sure the caps were secure on them before sticking them in my pocket. I stuck the folder in the back of my waistband and checked around the countertop for anything else relevant before slipping out the front door.

I didn’t feel the least bit disappointed in myself for sneaking around the compound I was calling home to steal DNA records. They were _my_ DNA records. Not to mention the compound was supposed to be my home. I thought of it as a homely scavenger hunt.

There you have it.

I checked my watch and decided I’d head out for Trost around eight when people were winding down and eating dinner. I usually always vanished around that time anyways, absconding into my room to stare at the ceiling for a couple hours. More often than not I was disassembling and reassembling my gun out of boredom. The handle had never been cleaner what with how many times I wiped it down.

I headed downstairs into my room and laid everything out on the bed. Folder with results, vial with blood, gun. I fished through the drawer beside the bed and pulled out my old motorcycle gloves I’d had the day I arrived here. The closet was bare, save for a few t-shirts, jeans, and my old leather jacket and a hoodie. The leather jacket was filled with holes from the umpteenth number of bullets that hit me my last day at Trost.

I begrudgingly set it back in the closet and snatched the hoodie off the shelf. Black, as per usual with these people, and it fit. It would do.

Two hours flew by quickly and just as I expected, no one came looking for me. I was out the door and past the training grounds ten minutes after eight. The mess hall was bustling with people at this hour which reassured me that no one would notice me slipping into the car garage.

These people only drove freaking vans.

Rows of black vans lines the garage, so much so that I nearly skipped over the tiny booth in the center of the parking lot. I jogged towards it and pushed open the squeaky door to find all the keys hung on tiny hooks. They were all the same, all the keys to the many vans. The bottom row of keys stood out because they were all different, and one particular one caught my attention.

It was clearly a motorcycle key, and it was clearly the one I was going to take.

I silently hoped whoever owned it didn’t mind that I was taking- no, borrowing their bike. Snatching the keys off the hook, I scurried through the lot and eventually found the bike parked near the back wall. It wasn’t as nice as the one I’d originally owned, but it was still nice. Definitely fast, and definitely the vehicle I needed to get to Trost quickly and back,

I wheeled it out of the garage and was on the main road in under five minutes. As far as I knew no one had seen or heard me leave, since I’d been careful not to start the bike until I was past the front gate. I was helmet-less, so my grown out hair was flying in every which direction. I settled in for an uneventful ride, expecting to get to HQ in a couple hours.

 

*****

 

The building was exactly as I remembered it. That is, when I was running for my life out of it.

The windows near the front and back entrances were still shattered. Large wooden boards had been propped up and nailed into place to block the elements from further deteriorating the building. I looked at the gravel by my feet, seeing it was still tinged a shade darker from the blood of agents.

A month ago is when it all started. It was trippy to stand here now.

I stepped forward and checked the back entrance I vividly remembered escaping from with Petra and Sasha. The door was locked, which wasn’t surprising. The wood board that covered the shattered window next to it was a different story, however.

I winced as the board hit the ground with a loud thud. I stepped over it and hoisted myself through the window with ease, dropping to the tiled floor silently.

I was back, though I couldn’t say I was pleased. The place had clearly not been used since the attack, which was understandable. Once any Military Police base was compromised it was unlikely anyone would come back. Paper was shredded, entire servers wiped clean and then deleted. The only thing that would stay was the equipment and furniture. Being with the MP had taught me that those things were replaceable.

Joining up with the Underground had taught me otherwise.

The Med Wing wasn’t too far from the back entrance, and soon I was standing in the hallway leading into the abandoned hospital. There were streaks of blood and dried blood puddles everywhere. The bodies of the agents I knew died here were long since gone. I looked to the room I’d stayed in the night it all happened and peered inside.

Bed the same; blankets strewn over the side, mirror broken in the corner of the room. Even Sasha’s computer was still on the nightstand. I picked it up and slipped it into the tiny pack I’d brought with me to hold extra magazines and knives.

The Med Wing’s front desk was peppered with bullet holes from both friendlies and the enemy. My hand absentmindedly felt along the top of the desk as I walked by to the lab area. _You’re here for a reason,_ I reminded myself.

The lab was quite possibly the only untouched part of the Med Wing. All except for the doorway which has suffered minor grazes from bullets and bloody handprints which were as prominent as they were the day they were put there. Morbid shit.

The machines were there, and a quick look into the room’s power box showed that they should all still work. My bag slid off my shoulder and I took out everything I’d need, opting to keep my gloves on for the delicate task ahead. I didn’t know much about DNA, or about science in general. But I knew enough of what to do to get what I’d come for. I hit the power switch on all the machines, and after a brief pause they all roared to life.

The light produced from them was enough to illuminate the desk and warranted the flashlight I’d brought not needed. I took out the files and read them over, seeing everything Hanji had accomplished before now. It was pretty impressive. Apparently I had a B- blood type. Extra special blood for an extra special boy.

I rifled through the counter’s drawers for a moment before producing a water dropper. I rinsed it in the still working sink and wiped it on my jeans to dry it. The process of transferring my blood from the vial into another vial that was to go in a spinning blood machine of death was unsettling to say the least, but I repeated the process with the other vial and set the machine to go.

I hoped I’d done everything correctly. The thought of coming this far to get nothing was painful.

It was going to take a while for the results to even surface, so I decided to re-familiarize myself with the building. The building was dank, and I regretted the early retirement of my leather jacket. My flashlight glared off the shattered glass that littered the floor and it crunched under the heels of my boots.

The colorless hallway that connected the Med Wing to the main building seemed gloomy. There used to be picture frames and a few potted plants that were scattered throughout, but now there was nothing, as if before everyone cleared out they decided the plants were more valuable than the millions of dollars in computers. My footsteps, albeit quieter than normal, still reverberated through the hall. I pushed open the double doors at the end and looked around the massive main lobby.

Everything was still here; the same massive front desk and the glass wall that separated the lobby from the main hub. I walked up to the automatic doors which didn’t work, unlike the rest of the electronics. I pried the doors open manually and slid through. I could almost envision Armin sitting at the monitor at the front of the room, listening to Connie prattle on about anything with half a mind to smack the short baldy. Shadis always stood near the front, looking at the massive monitor that displayed the entire city layout. His hands were always clasped behind his back, shoulders squared, and face drawn tight. The image of him getting taken out my Annie like it was nothing came to mind, and I smiled.

Maybe it was cruel to think like that, but he’d gotten what was coming to him.

I stepped up to the front where Shadis would have stood. The monitor was dark, turned off since the attack, and the sound of a gun cocking echoed through the empty room.

“Well holy shit, just _look_ at what the cat dragged in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm super sorry for the wait! I know I left this on a sort of cliff hanger, so I'm making it up to everyone with an even worse cliff hanger.  
> this chapter was fun to write but also is filled with so much information so sorry if anyone thinks it's too much...  
> next chapter will be wild, I'm already brainstorming where I want to take it (the direction points south to more levi/eren moments because if this story isn't the definition of "slow build" then I don't know what is)  
> as always, comments and kudos are SUPER appreciated! this fic made it to 700+ hits a while ago and I didn't even realize it until a few days ago. your guys' comments inspire me to keep writing so for real hmu with them ;)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren Jaeger, secret agent with over one hundred confirmed kills and enough sass to end world wars, suffers from crippling daddy issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a side note, this story has over sixty pages. that is. surreal.

 “You have a lot of nerve coming back here. I should shoot you,” Jean said. I turned to look at him and he smiled at me, but it looked like more of a grimace. He looked weary, his cheeks sallow and the bags under his eyes probably as bad as mine.

I eyed the gun he had leveled at my head and shifted my weight. I opened my mouth to say something to him, probably to ask him to put the gun away. But I wavered for a moment and then closed my mouth.

“Cat got your tongue?” He offered, and I frowned.

“You seem a bit trigger happy. I don’t want to set you off.”

“That’s a word for it,” his eyes darted towards the glass door then back to me. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t, aside from the fact you’re a grade A pain in my ass and ran off with a bunch of terrorists.”

“If I were with terrorists I would have to still be here,” I snapped back. Everything I’d learned about Bertholdt’s family and about Levi, every one of those people had suffered in some way or another because of the Military Police. Because of the Capital. I knew the only way to get Jean to understand that was to tell him myself.

_You can prevent that before we rush into Sina and wind up killing more people who were kept in the dark as long as you were._

Levi had been right, and it was now or never considering I may not live through the night.

Jean’s eyes went wide at my words and his grip on his pistol tightened. “What the fuck did you just say? You’re a goddamn traitor, Eren.”

“Maybe,” I relented and tightened my hand into a fist at my side. I had to do this without my gun. God only knows how bad this could turn out if I pulled my weapon on him.

“You fake your death to vanish for a month, take out a Military base, then waltz in here expecting everything to be all fine and dandy again?” He gave me an incredulous look and shook his head. “No way.”

“Jean!” Someone from the front of the lobby yelled and pulled the automatic doors open with the help of another figure.

Armin’s familiar head of blond hair ran up the aisle and stopped next to Jean, looking shocked and angry all at once. “What the heck are you doing?! Put your gun down, don’t shoot him.”

“You saw the surveillance from Jinae yourself, Armin. He was there, he helped those rebels take out MP agents. You’re not seriously going to side with him are you?” Jean’s eyes didn’t leave me once, well aware that if he did I could have my gun out of its holster and pointed at his head in a split second.

“Even you believe in looking before leaping Jean. I’m sure there’s a reason.” Armin said, then turned his bright blue eyes to me. “Right?”

“Right.” I confirmed.

Jean lowered his arms slightly, then brought them all the way down and holstered his gun. Connie emerged by the door and he ran up the aisle next to Jean.

“Holy shit, Eren! Long time no see. Being dead didn’t do you any favors.” He slapped me on my shoulder but pursed his lips when I didn’t flinch or jiggle like he probably expected. “Or maybe it did.”

“Good to see you too Connie-” I was cut off by Armin when he threw his arms around my neck and squeezed tight.

“Send a letter next time will you? It sucked thinking my best friend was dead.” His voice was watery, and I tried to reassure him by returning his hug as tight as I could without hurting him.

“There were no good postcards where I was, I figured I’d bide my time.” My joke earned me a laugh from Armin and an eyeroll from Jean. When Armin finally pulled away he was quick to wipe away his happy tears with the sleeve of his sweater.

“So… what were you guys saying about surveillance videos?” I knew my ID code would have given me away, but I guess I forgot about the surveillance video’s Hanji had taken down. When everything went to shit it was because Hanji’s firewall blocks and other techie crap had failed.

It was Jean who elected to speak up this time. “We heard about Jinae and decided to do a bit of digging. Since that’s where Marco was originally working before he transferred he was able to get the reports pretty easily. Your ID code was used to hack into some central terminal, which we assumed had been used by someone _not_ you.”

“But then,” Connie said, effectively taking over. “We saw the videos of you squaring off against some agents. And Titan’s no less- Eren, that’s fucking cool. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

“It looked bad, but we figured you had your reasons for staying gone and helping those people,” Armin concluded and flashed me a smile. “So you better start explaining. Like, now.”

Sighing, I leaned against the table next to me. “I really wish I could, but I’m short on time as it is and I have a job to do.”

The three of them all gave me the same look, so I quickly clarified. “Not a _job_ job. A personal issue I needed to look into.”

Connie raised an eyebrow at me and looked at Jean. “A personal issue brought you here?”

“It’s a really long story and I’d rather not get into it now but the base I’m at doesn’t have any of the machine’s I’d need for comparing blood samples. I knew that stuff was here, so I left to check.”

“You risked getting gunned down by Jean to come back to Trost for a _blood test_?” Whatever glamorous idolization Connie had for me seemed to vanish in that moment, a dull and disbelieving look on his face. “I can’t believe it.”

“There’s more to it than that, I promise. Where’s everyone else?”

“We’ve been holed up in ah… in your house actually. Since the attack.” Armin confessed nervously.

Last I remembered my house was chock full of bullet holes and utterly trashed. “Not that I’m peeved by you guys taking up residence and digging through my underwear or anything, but it’s not exactly livable there. Or did you manage to fix everything in a week like some pro house hunters?”

“No, it’s still destroyed. Completely. But it’s a good cover, because no one would expect us to return to a place like that. And you’re the only person out of all of us who would actually have a closet full of arsenal.”

The closet in my office came into view in my mind perfectly. Aside from the one pistol I had kept strapped under the desk, there was an eyesore of a chifferobe I had full of every weapon I could get my hands on. Pistols, AK’s, even a sniper rifle.

“I hope you guys haven’t had to _use_ any of that stuff.”

“Thankfully no,” Armin confirmed. “Eren you need to come back with us. I get that you’re working with these people for now but everyone here needs to see you.”

“Especially Petra,” threw in Jean.

“And Sasha,” added Connie. “They were really beat up over your supposed death man. Then seeing that surveillance footage of you… they think because they failed to save you or whatever that you were captured and brainwashed.”

He froze and narrowed his eyes at me, stepping a bit closer to me. “You’re not brainwashed are you?”

Jean slapped the back of Connie’s head, and he yelped out a string of curses. “Idiot, if he was brainwashed you really think he’d come clean about it?”

“Guys. Focus, please.” Armin chided and looked at me again. “Please, I know you’re tight on time Eren. But they really should know you’re okay and see you in person. No one knows what to think.”

I considered the game plan I had laid out for myself currently. All I knew for sure was that I needed the test results from the blood work I was running. Imagining the response my absence from the Survey Corp would cause had me hesitating to do anything. Especially after Levi had practically poured his heart out to me about Isabel and why it was important for me to keep helping.

Ah hell. He’d understand right? I really hoped he would.

“Alright, fine. But move fast, I don’t want them sending out a search party for me.”

Jean had turned towards the door but pivoted back to me with his brows arched. “They’d do that?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. One person in particular might.” _Only to beat the shit out of me though_.

“How sweet,” he bit out around a grimace, then continued towards the door.

I held my tongue, purely because Armin pursed his lips and shook his head at me. The four of us walked to the front of the room and together Jean and I pried the doors open. One by one we slipped out and stopped in the lobby. Armin asked if I still needed to get the blood test before we left.

“Yeah, it’s in the Med Wing. Should be done by now.”

“Is the information really that important?” Jean asked. His voice was low pitched and whiny, as always. I wanted to hit him already and it hadn’t been a full twenty minutes.

“You don’t have to come if you’re that cranky about it,” I snapped back.

Connie looked over at Jean, snickering behind his hand and attempted to suppress it by coughing. “He has a point.”

After that Armin nagged us, but in the end we all walked up to the Med Wing. There were no complains from Jean, and Connie made the same observation as to the lack of plants that I had earlier. The entire way my hand never left my side, ready to snatch my gun off my hip at a moment’s notice. After letting Jean get the better of me I was prepared to take out a fly to prove I was on top of my game.

Reentering the Med Wing was less creepy and nerve wracking with people beside me. I could tell Connie felt the same way based on how he stayed behind me and in front of Jean, clearly comforted by the two walking meat shields he’d acquired.

The green light on the machine in the lab was on when we walked in. I strode ahead of the others and powered on the computer system on the edge of the counter to check the results. I heard Jean say to Connie that he was going to scope out the other rooms and walked outside.

I was so fucking nervous, there was no way to deny that. My palms were sweaty and I was trying to psych myself up for the worst. Being related to this guy wouldn’t be the end of the world, but he’d tried to kill me, he knew who I was, and if he connected to my life somehow it didn’t bode well for me.

Armin came up beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Let me do it Eren, I know how to get the results.”

I hesitated, but nodded in the end. Armin I could trust. I reminded myself of that as I stepped away from the computer and let him take my place. He started typing away and opening different files and programs.

“Eren, you’re gonna want to see this,” Connie said to me from the doorway. His expression was drawn, and I looked over my shoulder at Armin who looked as concerned as I did.

“You go, I’ll finish up here,” he said to me.

Connie pointed down the hall to where Jean was. He was looking through the abandoned desks, opening and slamming drawers.

“What is it?” I asked him, and he looked down in frustration.

“You know we never got the chance to come back here to get rid of Military information. But it’s all gone somehow.”

Shit. “Maybe another district came to clear it out?”

He shook his head, his frown deepening. “No, we’ve been keeping a constant watch on this place. We try to come a few times a week to check in, make sure things are still quiet. It’s why we came tonight.”

“Then what’s wrong? If you’ve been here so often everything should be fine.”

“We haven’t been here since the attack on Jinae. Now that we’re looking around there’s stuff missing. All the paperwork that we hid that couldn’t be shredded is gone.”

“Did your new friends happen to stop by for it?” Connie asked, innocently enough, though I still felt like smacking him.

“No, they didn’t. We haven’t left the compound since Jinae. We’re planning for-” I stopped and snapped my mouth shut. Fuck. I didn’t know how they’d react to knowing I planned to help with taking out another Military base.

“Planning what?” Jean’s eyes narrowed on me again, and his arm fell to his side where his gun was. “You’re going to kill more Military agents? Plan another massive raid? What, Eren? Spit it out!”

“Shut up! Chill the hell out, alright? You’re wired as shit dude, just calm down.”

Connie shrugged at Jean, and though I could tell it physically pained him to do so, Jean relaxed and stood up.

“The paperwork is gone. From the time Jinae happened to now, someone was here and took everything.”

“What was so important that you couldn’t shred it?”

Jean looked at Connie, who rolled his eyes. I couldn’t blame him, Jean was way too cautious for his own good. “You remember the data chip Shadis sent to your Underground buddies? Had all that agent information on it? We got it back, and Annie had us make physical copies of everything. That way if something were to happen to HQ, we could still track down all the other agents to regroup.”

“So the paperwork had agents names, their aliases, addresses, everything?”

“Every single person who had worked in Trost or for Trost, had their name in that data chip. There are people _still_ undercover using aliases that are recorded on those files. And they’re gone now.”

This was way, way worse than I thought. Whoever had taken that paperwork had a map to the agents that had worked for Shadis, for Trost. The chances of whoever had the paper being some random scavenger was unlikely, and I thought of the Survey Corps. But it was impossible for them to have the information. If they’d been at their base all this time that the information was here, someone else would have had to take it.

And my mind immediately went to the Capital.

A titan who worked for the Capital had seen me with rebels. He’d seen me fighting against what I’d been trained to do my whole life. Which would mean if he was as big a dick as I thought he was, he’d ratted me out to the higher ups. They probably thought all Military Police agents who’d worked in Trost were moles, or deserters.

The Capital would want to kill all possible leaks, to protect their secrets and power.

“Eren!” Armin was leaning out of the doorway to the lab. His demeanor said it all, and I bolted down the hall and brushed past him to look at the computer. There were at least six different programs running, each had analyzed a different piece of information. But the box that took up the middle of the screen said it all.

“Second generation DNA match confirmed…” I muttered, and Armin looked at me with a pained expression.

“I can tell you didn’t want it to be true. I’m sorry.”

I was numb. Second generation meant I was consecutively related to this guy. That Titan was one genetic branch away from me. He was my father.

What the fuck was happening?

I slumped against the counter and dragged my hands over my face. “Fuck.”

I heard Jean and Connie approach the doorway and come to a stop where Armin was standing still. They asked what the blood work meant, but Armin didn’t know either. Only I knew. I didn’t know if I should tell them or not, but I didn’t think much of it before I was gripping the latch on top of the machine and pulling out the vials. I tossed each one over my shoulder and heard them shatter softly against the wall behind me. I unplugged the computer system and grabbed the files I’d brought from Hanji’s lab.

“Let’s go,” was all I said to the three men as I walked past them towards the back door of the building.

“Was it that bad?” Connie asked. His voice was low, and relatively soft. He was trying to tread lightly, which I appreciated, but all the same I shook my head.

“It’s not that bad,” I lied. It was bad to me. “Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing serious. I don’t have HIV or anything.”

“As if you’d been doing anything to get HIV,” Jean joked, and I actually laughed.

We walked outside to where my van was still parked, and I noticed their car parked at the end of the lot. They must have showed up after I did, because it wasn’t there when I pulled in.

“Jean, take our car with Connie. I’ll go with Eren.” Armin and I hopped on my motorcycle and I pulled out on to the road without a word.

We’d only been driving for about two minutes before Armin asked over the rush of wind, like I knew he would. “Eren, you can tell me anything, you know that right?”

Of course I knew that, Armin was more trustworthy than the Pope. “Yeah I know.”

I could almost picture him drawing his brows together and pursing his lips together over my shoulder. “But you’re still not going to tell me?”

If there was one person in the whole world I trusted most, it was Armin. He could keep secrets, though I didn’t like asking him to do so. It seemed like something that went against his character. But this once, I needed to get it off my chest. I didn’t know if I’d be able to bring myself to tell Levi when I got back to base, and I needed to tell _someone_.

“That Titan I was fighting in the videos,” I started, my tongue heavy in my mouth. “He recognized me. I’d never seen him before, but he knew who I was. Called me by my name, said he thought I died in the back alley Shadis found me in. Cryptic shit like that.”

“He’s related to you?” Armin pieced it all together quickly, the shock apparent in his voice.

I nodded. “He’s my dad. I suspected, but I didn’t psych myself up for it.”

“I’m so sorry Eren. What are you gonna do?”

I drummed my fingers nervously on the bike’s handles, checking the rearview mirror to see Jean and Connie behind us. “Nothing right now. The people I’m with are planning something big and until then I can’t get distracted. Coming here was a mistake as it is, I risked a lot. I’m probably gonna get the shit kicked out of me when I go back.”

“Are you sure you should be coming with us now then? As much as I want everyone else to see you and know you’re okay I don’t want you risking your safety or anything.”

“I’m not risking my safety, don’t worry. And actually, it might be good to see everyone now. I need to see if I can convince them to come with me when I go back.”

“Wait, hold on, what? Go back? Why?” He blinked at me in confusion.

“The reason these people need me to stick around is to prevent Military Police deaths. The gist of everything is we were all kept in the dark, and only a few people know about it. If I can get everyone to see that, they won’t fight against this rebellion.”

“I’ll listen to whatever you have to say Eren, and I’m sure everyone else will too. If you of all people broke away from the Military to join with these people then I’m positive the others will make something of what you say.”

I appreciated the reassurance, and silently hoped that it would play true. We rode the rest of the way in silence, the drive seemingly longer than I used to remember it. At one point Jean and Connie managed to cut in front of us, the only damage sustained was my foot whacking the foot rest when I braked. Jean’s arm stuck out the window and he flipped me off before speeding up.

While Armin was all about driving responsibly, he laughed. I did not.

We reached the desolate looking neighborhood I’d conveniently never seen another person in. I knew people lived here, but when I actually came home it was usually to change clothes or sleep for one night then bail. Looking out the window wasn’t in my routine.

Jean stopped the car to get out and remove the yellow caution tape that had blocked off the entrance to my street. He balled it all together and tossed behind a nearby tree, then got back in the car and pulled into the driveway of my house.

The garage was still full of bullet holes just like I expected. That and the windows near the front. Those were shattered and covered by planks of wood, similar to HQ. Jean and Connie got out of the car and walked through the front door, not knocking or anything. I saw Armin chance a look at me after he slid off the back of the bike, then headed inside.

I felt like turning off the ignition was officially starting progression. I was here, and a good handful of Military Police agents were inside, and if I could get them to understand what I’d come to then maybe I could really get Levi not to kill me when I went back. Except I was pretty confident that I’d be able to return with at least Armin in tow.

I shoved the keys in my pocket as I climbed off the motorcycle and kept my eyes on the seat for a few moments longer before heading towards the door.

There was no one in sight when I stepped inside. The living room was empty, no one on the couch or at the table. I got nervous _very_ quickly until Connie stuck his head out of the kitchen entry and beckoned me forward. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion just a bit, my stomach doing flips and officially dropping when I rounded the corner and saw everyone.

I saw Annie first, her hair in the bun I always saw it in and her expression bored as always. It changed when we made eye contact and she actually gave the barest hint of a smile. Reiner was next to her, mouth agape but turned up in a smile. Sasha and Petra were next to one another, eyes brimming with unshed tears of what I assumed was joy and relief. Marco actually laughed when my eyes settled on him and he grinned from ear to ear.

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it,” Reiner said. “Eren Jaeger, back from the dead.”

Smiling with him, I shrugged and took my hands out of my pockets. “In the flesh.”

I was glad I had my hands free, they came in handy to catch Petra when she launched herself at me. Her shorter stature had never fooled me into thinking she wasn’t strong, and she really proved it then. She crushed my neck with her arms and sniffled by my ear, and squeezed her back since I was still holding her.

“You can’t just bleed all over a parking lot and leave without saying anything,” her voice cracked and she shook her head. “You’re a freaking idiot.”

“So I’ve heard,” I kept my voice even because I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t affected by all their reactions to finally seeing me. It had been a month, and I figured that was a substantial amount of time to go through the grieving process and then decide out how to scold me for basically faking my unintentional death.

She squirmed in my hold so I set her down, and she stared at me with her watery amber eyes. She took a breath and held it, before exhaling at the same time she said, “What the hell, Eren?”

“Glad you’re alright man,” Reiner said, and stepped forward to clap me on the shoulder.

“You too. Your arm alright?”

He nodded and flexed, winking when I rolled my eyes. “Picture perfect.”

Sasha dove forward like a crazed animal and punched me square in the stomach. The hit wasn’t hard, but the force behind it surprised me as did the act itself. I doubled over at the same time I yelped.

“You could have sent a damn note, Eren! What the hell? You drove me batty for a month, I thought you were dead! You’re like a freaking cockroach, you were shot hot many times? At least three, and you’re up and walking around?!” Sasha held her ground like nobody’s business, and I straightened up to ward off another potential blow.

“Yeah, alright, I know okay? I got an earful from Armin already-”

“I’m not Armin, because unlike Armin I’ll _actually_ kill you for making me worry like that.”

I nodded and moved back a step. “I know, and I’m sorry. I should have sent you guys word that I was fine but I didn’t know how to get a hold of you, and I was sort of bedridden for a while.”

She seemed to consider this before backing down, huffing as she looked warily at everyone else. “You better start explaining.”

“That’s why I’m here,” I confirmed. “I actually have a lot to tell you guys. Dangerously important.”

“Well shit, don’t stop now,” Jean came around the corner and spun a chair at the table and straddled it. “I didn’t _not_ shoot you to have you hold off on your cult secrets.”

“You were going to shoot him?” Marco inquired, and Jean suddenly became sheepish and looked at the ceiling for an answer.

We moved past that rather quickly, and everyone was either standing or sitting somewhere in the kitchen to listen to what I had to say. Just like Armin said they all listened. Very attentively I might add. They reacted silently to the truth of Shadis’ betrayal, realization dawning on each of them when I explained how he’d derailed himself from the true intent of the Underground. I told them about Erwin and Levi, and how they headed an organization that did stand for something noble, and that it was us that had been blindly following the herd. It wasn’t until I mentioned the story Bertholdt had told me about his family did anyone interrupt.

“What do you mean he told you?” Reiner asked. There was raw emotion in his voice, and I remembered how he and Bertholdt had been _much_ closer than any of us. They were together in fact, and I was glad to say that Bert was alive.

“He’s there. He didn’t know anything about the attack on Trost, but he did fake his death to escape with the Survey Corps.”

Even Annie looked surprised to hear that Bertholdt was alive, and Reiner managed to look ten years younger in that moment.

“He’s alive…”

I let him have his moment and finished explaining how the Capital was without a doubt sending Titan’s to clean up any loose ends. How they were probably under the impression that since I’d left the MP, everyone from Trost was a traitor. Explaining that it was the higher ups that had stolen those documents from HQ was rough, and even Jean protested that it couldn't be true. He relented pretty quickly though, and soon enough everyone was pondering over all the information I’d given in silence.

“So what’s the catch?” Sasha asked. “We just join up with these Underground people and we’re safe?”

“Yeah, no catch. I’ve been helping to train their recruits over there, they don’t have as many resources as we do.”

“You’re training those guys?” Jean asked. “I thought you gave up on that lifestyle after Connie almost shot your head off when you were training _him_.”

Connie protested across the room, but we ignored him and I shrugged in response. “They definitely need the assistance. And not to toot my own horn here or anything but I did a pretty good job keeping people alive when we went to Jinae.”

“That’s the only iffy part for me,” Reiner interjected. “I don’t know how I feel about attacking government strongholds. They did a good enough job at Trost, but I don’t want to kill MP agents. Not if they’re really unaware of all the corruption. That’s fucked up, Eren.”

“I know, that’s why it’ll make a huge difference if you guys come with me. That’s why I’m there. They need people sympathetic to people like us to help convince others. We can make a serious difference.”

He was quick to nod in agreement. “Good. I’m going with you. I need to see Bert before anything though.”

I told him of course, and looked to everyone else for their responses. Petra was surprisingly eager to join up with the Underground if it meant taking out a few soulless Titans and politicians. Annie agreed to go also, saying it was purely out of boredom and to keep an eye on Reiner and his suicidal tendencies. By which she meant he always left his left side open.

Jean and Marco were side by side at the kitchen counter and readily stated that they were in when I asked.

“I think it’s safe to say that we all agree,” Armin said. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, and no one protested.

The wave of relief that crashed over me was an incredible feeling, and I shot out of my chair with newfound energy and excitement. “Help me pack up the stuff here to throw it in the cars. We’ll be out of here within the hour.”

And pack we did. All the guns and knives that had hung in the chifferobe upstairs were carried out and placed in Jean’s trunk. We stripped the house of anything Military Police related and grabbed a few packets of beef jerky on the way out of the kitchen. I was the last one out the door and took a last look at the house I’d barely spent any time in. There was no uneasiness this time when I closed the door behind me and met everyone by the cars.

“I’m driving the bike. Stay behind me this time,” I said to Jean, who just rolled his eyes. “When we get there don’t say or do anything. They’ll kill the shit out of anyone who seems like a threat.”

“Classy,” muttered Petra, then climbed over the pile of guns in the back seat and buckled herself in.

With everyone in their respective vehicles we were on the road and headed back to the Underground. I couldn’t help but feel immensely proud of myself for wrangling up a bunch of people ready to support Levi’s cause. They’d agreed quickly and were more pissed at the Capital now than they were at me for disappearing.

I wasn’t feeling much of anything when we hit the mile mark to the base. My mind was racing with everything I’d learned tonight. That the Titan I’d fought was my dad, that the Capital was probably hell bent on taking out corrupted agents now. It was a bit nerve wracking to consider, but all the same my friends were in the car behind me, and they were ready to help out however they could.

The sun was coming up over the mountains that secluded this area from outsiders, and I knew that at this hour people would be up and walking around at base. My chances of getting in unseen were slim to none, but I guess that showing up with a bunch of never before seen and armed-to-the-teeth strangers would warrant some attention.

Once we reached the front gate, I left the bike running and hopped off to open the way. I could hear yelling from the training grounds, and I quickly got back on my ride once the gate was swung open and drove through. The gravel crunched under the wheels of the car behind me, and soon we were through the canopy of trees that overshadowed the main path and in the clearing.

Levi stood at the edge of the training grounds with Erwin and Mike. A few trainees were behind them practicing moves, but everyone stopped what they were doing once the bike’s engine died down.

Levi’s eyes found my own, and in that moment I could not for the life of me figure out what he was thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is Levi POV ;)  
> I have finals coming up so no confirmed date for when I get chapter 8 completed. or brainstormed at all.  
> a HUGE thank you to every single person who reads this story and genuinely likes it! it means a lot to just know people enjoy reading what I write.  
> comments/kudos are incredibly appreciated, I can't believe there are 70 kudos as it is, it's so amazing to see :^)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But mostly your friends. Seriously. They'll just disappear on you otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Levi POV

There aren’t many times in my life where I can be genuinely surprised. One time Hanji tried to throw a surprise birthday party for me, to which I didn’t attend. I just about shot her in the face for pulling a stunt like that. This was a unique moment where I couldn’t decide if I should be angry or impressed.

Eren was walking towards me, albeit with less swagger than he normally would. He looked nervous, definitely contemplating whether I’d kill him or not. I was wondering that too. Erwin looked down at me, brows raised in shock and tilted his head towards Eren as if to say _‘He’s under your supervision, what are you going to do?’._

I took a deep breath and unstrapped my gun from its holster, handing it off to Mike who had been silent the entire time. “Why?” he asked.

“If I get mad at least I can only punch him,” I deadpanned, and started towards him. Eren stopped closer than midway, and I stopped a couple feet away from him for his sake. I could practically see the sweat beading down his forehead, he was worse than Bertholdt.

“I can explain,” he started. I snorted.

“You’re going to damn well start explaining, Brat. We thought you bailed.”

“No! God, no, I wouldn’t _leave_. Not like that, I just wanted to get the blood test Hanji ran tested on better equipment.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I have no idea what that means.”

“It means you guys were short on decent blood testing equipment and I knew where to find better stuff. I found them along the way. They want to help.”

“Do they now?” I was being very unreasonable and sarcastic. I didn’t know why I was so uptight about this. The kid came back, that should be all that mattered right? No doubt Erwin would be pleased to have more agents who could help out, but I was only seeing the glass half empty. Eren had left. What if he hadn’t come back?

My tone had Eren looking defeated, so I sighed and rocked back on my heels. The eyes of everyone out on the training field were on us, which only added to the pressure I was feeling. Take in Eren’s friends, or let them take their leave? I wasn’t that cruel. For whatever reason I just seemed to care about Eren disappearing without telling anyone.

“Levi, I’m sorry. I can imagine what you probably thought but I promise I’m not going anywhere. I got what I needed and I brought back help. That’s good right?”

God, he was pleading. I felt like an asshole now. “Yeah yeah, calm down it’s fine. Show them to the barracks and give them the general rundown on dinner and training and whatever else is relevant. Go to the War Room after dinner, there’s a lot to talk about evidently.”

Eren’s eyes got brighter in that instant, and it was like someone had turned on a switch behind them. They were so, _so brilliantly_ green and I’d never be able to not stare when he smiled like that. I’d never seen something so picture perfect before.

“Thank you so much Levi, you won’t regret this.” He turned and sprinted back to his friends to tell them the news, and I did the same at a more leisure pace to get back to Erwin and Mike.

“We have guests,” was all I said as I snatched my gun back from Mike and walked in between the two of them towards the main building. I needed to distract myself from the rampant emotions that had come out of the woodwork.

Erwin and Mike started talking about what this could mean for the upcoming mission, blah blah whatever. I tuned them out and ignored the stares of shock or disapproval I was undoubtedly getting from Survey Corps recruits. Eren’s abrupt leave of absence had reaffirmed their doubts in him, and seeing him come back with more MP agents was neither a blessing nor a welcome sight to them. They didn’t know whether to trust or turn their backs on the offered help.

My job was to organize attacks on the Capital and help execute them. These people’s individual wants and desires weren’t a concern of mine.

I passed by Hitch who was looking out at the field, her brows drawn and the mix of feelings evident on her face. Everyone who had seen him fight in Jinae seemed to be taking personal offense to Eren leaving, and if my hunch was correct it was because the majority of them had come to respect him.

All the same, I needed to clear my head. I stopped by my room to grab a pack of cigarettes and a couple reports that needed to be finished. On the roof I could still hear the training going on below, but it was more of a comfort than it was distracting. I set to work and smoked through half my pack in the first few hours, feeling exceptionally gross afterwards.

_“You might be a good fighter Levi, but you can’t punch lung cancer,” Farlan chided and snatched up the empty pack from my desk, but I just rolled my eyes and continued working._

_“Watch me, and then I’ll rub it in your face.”_

_“Punch lung cancer? I’d_ let _you rub it in my face if you actually managed.” He laughed but shot up straight away when Isabel walked in the room._

_“What do you think, bro? I feel oh so mature.” Isabel had a cigarette between her lips, unlit, but there all the same. Farlan was at her side in a split second and plucked it from her mouth._

_“Levi, you’re a shit role model. I hope you know that.”_

_“I tell myself that every morning.” I didn’t look away from my book while we spoke, and eventually the quiet atmosphere I’d been content in was drowned out by Isabel’s protests and Farlan’s nagging._

The memory was a bittersweet one. I puffed on my cigarette and laned back against the railing, abandoning my reports.

_“Levi! Where is the support team!?” Farlan yelled over the rush of bullets, his back to the wall and Isabel firing shots beside him._

_I ducked down to avoid a direct hit as plaster from the walls flew towards me. “They’ll get here! Erwin dispatched them as soon as these guys showed up!” Part of me wanted to believe that, but I psyched myself up for a long fight. Farlan looked grim, probably thinking the same thing, but took point over Isabel and started shooting anyways._

_There was an endless stream of Titan’s coming forward, and I knew they had to have been tipped off somehow. We were too far in, too quiet to have alerted anyone. I fired off a few more shots around the wall I used as cover and heard a few bodies hit the floor. There was blood everywhere, it streamed down the walls and covered the white tile floor. The smell was overwhelming, and I began to accept that we probably weren’t making it out of this alive._

_A shriek came from me left, and I spun around to see a Titan holding a handful of Isabel’s hair. She was practically snarling at the man, and Farlan was quick to land a drop kick to the Titan’s chest._

_“This isn’t looking good!” He yelled as he stood up. In that moment, that one split second that he was uncovered, bullets flew and hit him from all angles. Isabel screamed from her cover and was red faced. Tears were streaming down her face, and mine, I realized._

_Farlan fell forward, eyes open and unmoving, his back covered in red dots that slowly took up the expanse of his body. Isabel was still screaming, and her grief finally pulled me back to reality. She was angry, fuming, hurt, lost. She was too far away for me to physically do anything, so I called to her._

_“Isabel don’t move! Just stay put okay? It’s alright, everything will be fine!”_

_She looked over at me through hooded, red eyes. Slowly and calmly she smiled at me, using the wall she leaned on to hoist herself up._

_I was frantic, telling her to stay down and not to move. It was like she couldn’t even hear me, and more bullets started raining down through the room. There was no way I could get to her without dying along the way. She looked completely dejected as she gazed down at Farlan’s body. They’d always bickered, but he’d grown to love her like a sister, and she felt the same way. It hurt me more to see her looking like this than to actually look at Farlan._

_Isabel cocked her gun and rounded the corner, firing off shot after shot and managing to take out a group of Titan’s that had been inching along the wall towards her. She head shotted one and got the other two in their legs or torso. I couldn’t pull her back into cover, so I tried to help the best I could._

_I started shooting, taking out those who were attempting to get Isabel from whatever side she wasn’t covered on. She got down at one point, narrowly missing a shot to the head, and shot the bastard back through his chest. She moved smoothly, but recklessly at the same time. All she cared about was doing damage and she’d left herself completely open._

_I couldn’t just stand there and watch while she risked her life on a limb, so I jumped out of cover and shot back at any asshole Titan who thought to take me out. I stayed low and ran towards her, propelled by instinct and adrenaline. She saw me heading towards her and turned, attempting to back into a hallway to offer some cover from the onslaught of bullets._

_One Titan tried to grab at her as she backed out of sight, but I intercepted him and was quick to save a bullet by snapping his neck. As soon as he was down I was in the hallway with Isabel, and I hurried to catch my breath while peering around the corner to keep the Titans at bay._

_“Levi…” Isabel moaned behind me, and I could already tell by her voice it wasn’t good. I wanted to throw up. There was blood all over her stomach, and a hunting knife was planted in her stomach up to the hilt. Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, and she collapsed to her knees._

_I caught her before she fell on her face, and the jolt of the impact had her coughing blood on my shirt. “No, no no no no no. No! Dammit!”_

_“Levi,” she rasped out. She sounded weak, and with each breath she took more blood bubbled up from her throat. “Go… get out.”_

_I ignored her and looked over my shoulder. No shots had been fired since we moved into the hallway, but I knew time was running out. “I’m not leaving you, we have to go.”_

_“I’m gonna slow you down. I’m half dead already. Go or we’ll both die.”_

_“I already said I’m not leaving you!”_

_“Don’t die for nothing! Please!” Her entire chin was covered in the blood she spit up, and I felt my heart ripped out indefinitely. I’d lost my only family in the span of ten minutes._

_I squeezed my eyes shut and grit my teeth, the sound of footsteps nearing snapping me back to attention. Isabel looked at me with sympathetic eyes as I set her down and scooped my gun back up. My eyes didn’t leave hers until I was at the edge of the hallway and I could finally see the Titans closing in on us. I checked the magazine in my gun, desolate to realize there were only five bullets left. I couldn’t die here, because if I died I couldn’t get help for Isabel._

_I didn’t stop to think about what I was doing. I just did it and tried not to get killed._

_The first shot hit its target directly in the throat. The Titan’s hand flew up to the wound but he still hit the ground soundlessly. I fired off two more shots, taking out both the agents who stood at the end of the hallway with their weapons drawn._

_Two Titans rushed me, and I dodged one of them, but the other grabbed my left wrist. He attempted to twist it behind my back to incapacitate me, to no avail. I let him twist it, only to twist around and duck under my own arm. It hurt my shoulder, but in the end I utilized the angle and drove my gun into his stomach, pulling the trigger._

_The second Titan who was too close for comfort fired at me, and I dove at the ground and rolled so I was directly in front of him on the ground. I kicked up and hit his jaw, a sickening crack resonating throughout the room. He flew back and hit the ground, and there were four Titan’s left standing._

_I pulled a knife off the belt of the man I’d just kicked down and spun and threw it, watching through a haze as it impaled itself up to the hilt in the head of another Titan. He fell back against the wall and slid down, dead before he hit the floor. I was screaming. Growling accompanied every action I executed, and the last three Titan’s looked at one another in confusion. There had been one of me and nearly ten of them._

_One man hastily fired off every shot he had left in his pistol until it was clicking uselessly. Through them all I’d moved to the side of the wall and run up it, kicking my knees over my chest and landing behind him. I quickly and efficiently snapped his neck, catching his body before it hit the ground and throwing it at another Titan leveling his weapon at my head. The distraction proved effective and he stumbled to catch his fellow Titan. I rolled to the side and snatched the knife that was still stuck in one Titan’s head, jumped up, and stuck it in his back._

_It was practically a scene out of a movie, watching every villain fall in the span of five minutes. I raised my weapon to the head of the last Titan and pulled the trigger just as he was about to plead for his life. He collapsed, and I tossed my gun aside. No more bullets left._

_When I sprinted around the corner to get back to Isabel, the anguish I felt was other worldly. She was right where I’d left her, but she was gone. Her eyes open, yet lifeless. In her semi closed hand was a small patch of fabric, the edges tinged red with her blood. I gently took it from her, realizing it was the shitty bird she’d stitched ages ago._

_My tears landed on the tiny scrap of fabric, and I stuffed it in my pocket. As much as I wanted to take Isabel and Farlan with me, I knew I couldn’t. I stood and cast one last look at Isabel before retracing my steps in the building to the entrance._

_Erwin and his squad were finishing off a few Titans when I made it outside, and he was talking with Mike, unaware of my presence._

_“The decoy team made it inside and did their job. We got the information we needed and took out the Titan leader in this sector. Make sure Hanji gets that information and_ only _Hanji.”_

_“Yes sir. How many did we lose inside?”_

_Erwin gazed at the surrounding buildings and the dead Titan’s near the front of them. “I haven’t heard anything from the decoy team, so I imagine we lost all of them. Nevertheless, we can’t dwell on it.”_

_My blood was boiling in my veins at his words. Decoy team? That was rich. The Commander had knowingly sent me and my squad inside knowing we’d die? Isabel and Farlan had lost their lives for meager information?_

_I’d kill him before he set foot off these blood soaked grounds._

“Levi?” Eren’s voice dragged me back to reality. I blinked the memory out of my mind and looked up into the agent’s brilliantly green eyes. They sent a shiver through me, reminding me of Isabel all over again. All the same, I brushed away the cigarette ashes that had landed on the reports in front of me.

“What?”

“It’s almost dinner time. Erwin wanted me to find you and remind you of the meeting afterwards.”

I stiffly nodded and sat forward with my elbows resting on my knees. “Is that all?”

He hesitated. “No, actually. I wanted to see if you’d eat with me and my friends. I want to introduce you to them.”

“Oh?” This was a curious thing. “Sure you want to take the risk of me scaring them away before a full day goes by?”

Eren laughed under his breath, and the sound was like music. It occurred to me then I’d never really heard him laugh. He may be spritely and friendly most times, but in truth Eren really did keep to himself. The Survey Corps knew his history, but we didn’t know _him_.

“I’ll take the risk,” he said with a smile and extended his hand down to me. I had half a mind to smack it away, because he was absolutely towering over me at the moment. But I fought the urge and accepted the help, snatching my remaining cigarettes up with me.

We walked in silence all the way to the Mess Hall, and when we got there the place was just as loud and obnoxious as it always was. Even though there was a clusterfuck of Military Police runaways at the table in the middle of the room, no one let it bother them and they continued to goof around. I followed Eren to the table and continued to stand even when he swung his long legs over the bench to sit down.

“C’mon, we’ll play a name game or something.” He patted the spot next to him reassuringly. It had been a while since I’d eaten in the Mess Hall. Probably since Eren arrived I’d been taking my meals in my room or not at all. I caved rather quickly though, and sat next to Eren. That was when his friends finally turned their attention to us.

“Eren! This place is huge for a rogue faction,” said some bald kid, and he shoveled more mashed potatoes into his mouth. Eren sniggered and looked over at me and smiled.

“Guys I wanted to introduce you to Levi. He’s one of the Captain’s here.”

“And the guy who dragged you here,” A dirty blonde haired woman practically growled at me. I knew that was coming, no doubt about it.

Eren sighed, “Petra, c’mon. Not now.”

Petra turned her hostile gaze to Eren and gave him an incredulous look. “You know _he_ is the one who shot you half to death back at Trost, right? Sasha and I saw everything.”

“Yeah, I know it was him. But it’s in the past Petra. Just let it go, alright? We’re working together now.”

“Backwards logic, that.” She snorted and took a drink from her cup, avoiding eye contact with everyone but still looking pissed.

I felt all sorts of welcomed.

“You’re the guy in charge of Eren?” The gruff voice came from across the table, and I recognized the man. I’d seen pictures of him in Eren’s profile; he was the one that got into fights with the hot tempered agent. Jean, I think his name was.

“That would be me,” I answered bluntly, and Eren tsked at the both of us.

“No one is in charge of me.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

The group laughed, and even Petra seemed to crack a hint of a smile. Eren proceeded to go around and introduce everyone at the table. The bald kid was named Connie, the girl next to him was Sasha. She smiled best she could with a mouthful of food. Jean was already named in my mind, and the man next to him looked too friendly for his own good. His name was Marco. Reiner was described to me, since he was nowhere to be found. Eren told me he was probably with Bertholdt which came as a surprise to no one, apparently. The girl at the end of the table with the resting bitch face was Annie, and she looked like hanging out with this group was the living definition of death. Lastly was the short blond on Eren’s other side, Armin. He seemed polite enough.

“What exactly is this ‘meeting’ going to be about? We were only ever invited to meetings when we were in trouble.” Connie said looking nervous. Eren made a face at that and cast a sidelong look at me.

“I’d tell you if I knew. I was sort of kicked out of the meetings recently.”

What a brat. I thought he was over that. “If I know Erwin, he’s going to explain the upcoming mission and make sure everyone is on board with it. No doubt he’ll probably have Hanji prod around in all your head’s with a psych evaluation to make sure you’re even fit to assist. He’s going to move sooner on Sina than he was originally planning with the extra hands to help out inside.”

“Whoa, hang on. Sina? What does Sina Headquarters have to do with anything?” Jean asked, turning his icy glare to Eren. I looked at the brunet as well and raised a brow at him.

“You _did_ explain to them what we were planning, right?”

He had the decency to look guilty as he shrunk in on himself. “Not… all of it.”

“You’re attacking more Military bases? What the hell Eren?! This is not what the fuck I had in mind when I agreed to come with you!” Jean stood up, his chair screeching loudly against the Mess Hall’s floor. The noise drew the attention of the agents seated around us, and I acted quickly.

“I suggest you sit down and shut up so we can explain.” My voice was even, cold, and had his attention immediately. “Because I can guarantee you by shouting things like that in here, with hundreds of untrusting eyes on you, you won’t have a pleasant evening. The meeting tonight will clear up any of the questions you undoubtedly have but until then, keep your mouth shut and don’t talk to anyone. There’s a number of people here who would stab you in the back if they think you’ll run to tattle.”

Jean gulped, brows drawn together as he struggled with internal turmoil. To listen to the short Captain, or not to, which would he rather do? Or more specifically, which would keep him alive through the night?

In the end he sat down, and Eren deflated next to me. I’d had my fill, though, and stood up from the table which sent any curious eyes that had been lingering in the other direction. “I hope you know that was your fault,” I growled to Eren.

Without another word I walked out of the Mess Hall and towards the War Room. I needed to run what I’d learned by Erwin and get his insight on everything. And possibly ask him to explain things in a better light than Eren ever could. The kid was a brilliant agent but I swear, he was such a fucking idiot.

When I walked in Erwin was in his usual spot at the head of the table. Mike was next to him, and Hanji’s assistant Moblit was holding a stack of papers off to the side of the room. The loud banging coming from the back room was probably Hanji, and I slammed the door behind me to get everyone’s attention.

“You could say hello instead of risking breaking the hinges,” Erwin muttered, not looking up. I ignored him.

“Eren’s friends don’t know jack about the Sina plan, which might make this more difficult than initially planned.”

The Commander looked up, as did Mike, who looked worried. “He didn’t tell them?”

“I have no clue what he told them, but it looks like there’s a prickly one in the group who is dead set against any kind of revolution. Maybe he just tagged along for vacation hour usage. All the same you need to figure out how to convince these people to help.”

He snickered down at me, and I swung my fist up at his face. He was an asshole, during times like this most. He intercepted the hit easily and moved my hand down with little effort, only because I let him. “Why is it suddenly my job to convince Eren’s ‘friends’?”

“That’s a fucking stupid question.”

“Maybe. But in my mind since you’re in charge of Eren, it makes you in charge of Eren’s friends. Which one is posing an issue?”

“Jean Kirschtein. The one mentioned in Eren’s profile.”

He nodded his head understandingly and handed off the file he’d been holding to Moblit, who scrambled to set it on top of the stack he was already holding. The damn thing looked ready to fall at any second.

“Wait for the meeting to start, it’s almost time. All we can do is try to get our point across best we can. I can’t imagine all of them will be against the Sina plan once they hear it, so be ready for cooperation regardless if it comes from everyone or just a few.”

 

*****

 

The rest of dinner seemed to drag on exceptionally, and I was left to my devices as well as Hanji’s for the better part of the evening. Once the sound of people heading up the building’s stairs to their rooms was heard, Erwin laid out everything we would need for the meeting. Blueprints, squad positions, and he called in every squad leader for dramatic effect. Or maybe it really was just for strategy.

Eren was the first to show up and he looked like a nervous wreck. I had half a mind to ask if he’d kept his dinner down before coming up here, but I held my tongue and watched the rest of his friends file through the door.

I kept an annoyingly close eye on Jean the second he walked through the door. He looked almost as nervous as Eren did, only it was an angry kind of nervous. Like he was holding back a punch he really wanted to throw. The freckled kid, Marco, stood next to him and was whispering hurriedly into his ear as if he were reasoning with him.

Once the last of the agents was inside, Hanji closed the door behind them and grinned fucking maniacally. “Welcome to The Underground, ladies and gentlemen.”

I could only rolled my eyes but one of the MP agents actually jumped. Erwin seemed to draw everyone’s attention before he even spoke. “My name is Erwin Smith. I’m Commander of the Survey Corps, the Underground’s ultimate revolt faction. I won’t sugar coat anything, as I’ve already heard that some of you are a bit twitchy about what you may be doing here.”

Jean shifted uncomfortably.

He continued, “I’m pleased that you all agreed to hear Eren out for the duration of his trip outside the base. However he hasn’t told you everything. What we do here, we do for the good of the people who are shoved under the scrutiny of the Capital. They are malicious, they are cruel, and they are tyrants. That’s the gist of it. Their misuse of power cannot continue, and so we take out their ‘arms’, so to speak. The limbs that do the heavy lifting outside of their ‘core’. The Military Police is the sole ‘arm’ that has limited what we can do, as well as its sister force Titans.”

Baldy’s hand shot up like a rocket at that, and Erwin looked taken aback to be interrupted so soon into his speech. Eren looked mortified from the other side of the line up and seemed to want to slap his friend’s arm down. Hanji sniggered from the back of the room, and I cracked a smile myself. Everyone knew to shut up and wait for Erwin to one of his trademarked monologues.

“...Yes?”

“The Military Police doesn’t work directly with with Titan’s, sir. At least, I never have. I’ve never even seen one in action.”

Sasha nodded precipitately at that as if agreeing would lessen the magnitude of his interruption. Erwin nodded once, very slowly. The action was tense. “I understand that. All the same, they are two sides of the same coin that the Capital has tucked in it’s pocket.”

He beckoned for everyone to come closer around the table and everyone complied. He drew out the large copy of Sina’s internal layout and pinned the edges down with tacks. “Sina is not the largest Military Police base, but it’s one of the most powerful. They have the most direct dealings with Titan’s than any other, and politicians from the Capital travel there frequently. It’s our best source of information on the Capital’s dealings that we have at the moment.”

“How do you even have this?” Jean said under his breath. More tense eyes slid over to him, and I was honestly ready for Erwin to go ape shit and start lecturing on procedure. There was this vein in his forehead I was positive was about to pop. “Are there that many trai- agents in MP who would just give this shit away?”

“Jean, this has been an issue for a long time. It’s not like everyone decided to drop everything at once for this.” Eren’s attempt at calming Jean down did little to quell the argument I could tell was building on his lips, but he relented all the same. Erwin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I’m telling you all this now so you have a day to think on it. I’m not forcing anyone to make a decision now. The plan for the attack on Sina will be reviewed tomorrow and executed shortly after. The day is soon, that much is certain. Anyone who stays to hear the plan is automatically enlisted in helping us. You’re no longer Military Police, you’re Survey Corps. You cannot leave, for obvious reasons. Alternatively, I’d ask that you all stay here even if you refuse to help. Again, for obvious reasons.”

“If anyone tries to slip away, it’ll just complicate things. So pretty please, just stay put. I’ll see about installing the karaoke machine we have stashed in the back of the Mess Hall as a bonus.” Hanji gnawed on the end of her pencil as she spoke, and I made a mental note to never touch it again.

The room fell silent and Erwin stood straight with his hands clasped behind his back. He looked at the line of agents in front of him, all of them clearly used to this sort of formation because all of them mimicked Erwin’s stance with blank faces. Save for Jean, who looked constipated. And Eren, who looked tired.

“I’ll look for you all here after lunch tomorrow. Have your answers ready by then. Dismissed.”

No one seemed to know where to go until Eren whispered in Armin’s ear and opened the door for them to leave. They all followed Armin, presumably to the bunks that they’d been shown to earlier. Eren heaved a heavy sigh and slumped down into the chair in the corner of the room.

“That was nerve wracking.”

“Which part?” I asked.

“All of it. Mostly the part where it looked like Erwin was going to throttle Jean and have a heart attack at the same time.”

I laughed at that, and the sound surprised Eren. He jerked his head up to stare at me wide eyed, but I just let his eyes linger while I thought about tomorrow’s possible outcome. Hanji interrupted the moment with a barrage of questions directed at Eren about the very thing I was thinking about.

“I don’t know,” Eren answered, genuinely confused. “I feel like it can go either way honestly. They all trust me to the point that they came here, but Military Police agents are loyal. I don’t know how easily they can just throw away half their lives like that.”

I nodded in understanding and Hanji pursed her lips. “I get that. Hopefully they can see this time frame as a window of opportunity. We really could use their help. Yours has already proved invaluable.”

He nodded then suddenly gasped, jumping up. “Shit! I forgot- the agent files- fuck. Shit. There were files with agent locations in it. All Trost agents; their aliases and addresses, Jean said they got taken from HQ after Jinae. I forgot- fuck. That’s really bad, Levi, we think they’re targeting Trost agents now too.”

Erwin had heard everything and glanced at Mike, who seemed to decipher whatever the look had meant and walked off. Freak.

“We’ll look into this Eren. Let everyone else know that, it might help them decide whether they want to stay here or not. We could at least protect them if they’re here.”

Eren sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, okay. I’m gonna go to bed.”

Everyone bid him a goodnight, and I went last. His eyes seemed to search mine before he practically whispered, “Goodnight, Levi.”

“Sleep well Eren,” I replied. The eye contact was truly palpable. He slipped past me and disappeared around the corner. Hanji was on me in a second.

“I’m glad we have the extra man power now but… I really have a weird feeling about this. If he’s right and Titan’s will be targeting Trost agents there’s a lot more to their help than we’re considering.”

“You’re right. But we can’t do anything based on speculation right now. We don’t know where the Titan’s are or which one has their hands on agent files. We’ll just have to focus on our own plan for Sina right now.”

After a few more sentence exchanges with the squad leaders present, I left the War Room and decided I’d sleep for once. I was exhausted, and I’d be lying if I said a full eight hours of being unconscious wasn’t appealing. I kicked my boots off and ditched my shirt, collapsing on the heap of blankets and pillows that smelled like the base’s cheap brand of soap. It didn’t take long before I had the blankets tangled around my legs and I was out.

 

*****

 

The sun barely cracking through the blinds is a sure indication that I should _not_ be awake. That’s what I told myself when the knocking on my door had turned into banging and I was forced to get up. I ignored the chill of the floor that shot up my bare feet and padded over to the door, yanking it open to glare at the offending asshole.

Hanji and Eren stood side by side. Hanji was in her lab coat, which was no surprise. She probably hadn’t slept. Eren had bags under his eyes, though those had been there for a while. He was wearing a loose pair of sweats and a baggy black t-shirt and was also barefoot.

“The sky better be fucking falling because it doesn’t look like it’s even six o’clock yet,” I growled at them both, but they just fidgeted in unison.

“It’s bad,” Hanji said. “An agent left in the middle of the night. No one knows where they are.”

“It’s Jean,” Eren said, confirming my unstated guess. “He’s gone. He fucking bailed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here it is! not terribly late, considering I updated my other fic that had been on an 8 month hiatus. rip that honestly.  
> a little Levi backstory because I wanted to establish that and I also had zero ideas as to what to fill this chapter with. i'm already brainstorming the next chapter and hopefully that will be up within a reasonable timeframe ;)  
> also a side note, i'm moving to france in august so in case it IS delayed, that is my very valid excuse  
> hope you all enjoy! as always comments/kudos are appreciates! thanks a bunch


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cue screaming in different octaves*

Things had moved ridiculously fast once Levi and Erwin had been informed of Jean’s early departure. Of the two, Levi seemed the most frustrated, if only because this meant he had more work to do. Erwin on the other hand took the news well, almost as if he had expected it. All the same, neither said anything about it to me once people were scurrying around in the early morning hours trying to fix the impending mess. 

“We should have had more security placed on them,” Nanaba groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. She’d been informed a short while ago and was not taking it as well as Erwin, to say the least. “I mean, we basically outlined our entire plan in front of him before he decided he’d had enough. He’s going to Sina straight away.”

“We don’t know that,” Hanji countered. “There’s a chance he just didn’t want to be a part of this. Maybe he won’t tell anyone.” 

“That blind optimism is pretty fucking pathetic Hanji. You’re smarter than that.” 

Hanji opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. She had to realize how unlikely her theory was. 

Everyone else in the war room looked weary. My eyes kept drifting to Marco, and I really did feel for the guy. It had to sting, what Jean had done. Armin was next to him pressed close and whispering something to him. Marco grimaced and nodded in response to whatever was said. 

“Oi, Brat.” 

I looked next to me to see Levi in his standard black jeans, black t-shirt look. When he’d gotten the time to change, I didn’t know, but I quickly averted my eyes when I realized my gaze was beginning to wander.

“Has Erwin decided what to do yet?”

He waited a second before responding. “He’s putting a rush on the Sina mission. If we don’t act soon everything we’ve done up until now could be for nothing. Jean is gonna try damn hard to make sure of that.” 

The truth of that statement hurt more than I wanted it too, and I had the urge to apologize to everyone in the room. It’s not as though I’d held the front gate open for Jean, but I had brought him and everyone else here. The Underground agents were skittish around the MP agents to begin with, and this had to have all but confirmed their doubts in us. 

Levi’s fingers were in my face suddenly, snapping me back to attention. “You’re ridiculously expressive, I can see everything you’re thinking. Don’t blame yourself for this.” 

“I’m not. Not really… it’s just a shitty situation all around.” 

“A shitty situation that blaming yourself for won’t change. All that happens now is we go to Sina sooner. That’s what I’ve gathered. Erwin is being awfully secretive about what he wants to do at the moment.”

“Why?”

“Who knows? He’s tight lipped as it is, I’m not reading too much into it.” 

I nodded grimly at the same time the door to the War Room swung open. Erwin strode inside with a manilla folder tucked under his arm. Mike entered after him, taking care to close and lock the door behind them. The people in the room were those I’d assumed could be trusted with the revised Sina plans. However, I was pretty sure the only reason the rest of the Military Police agents were inside was because there was now an unstated rule that we were to be watched 24/7. Levi was already on babysitting duty with me, so nothing was all that different where I was concerned. 

“I won’t bother with formalities, we all know why we’re here.” Erwin stated gruffly, throwing the folder on to the table. It slid across the surface and came to a stop in front of Levi, who then emptied its contents. The papers inside all looked to be blueprints with hand drawn lines in different colors outlining certain paths. New paths, presumably, that we would take once we reached Sina. “We’ve revised the attack on Sina as best we could in our limited time frame. Some aspects of our plan have to remain the same purely because there is no way for us to get what we need any other way. This means there will be casualties if the rogue Military agent has informed Sina of our attack like we suspect.” 

The word ‘rogue’ made Marco wince, and I saw it through the corner of my eye. Armin was still beside him and placed his hand on his knee, silently comforting him. Levi leaned forward to inspect the new documents closer, and I followed suit. 

“You didn’t change much,” Levi said. “Just different routes for breaching the place.” 

“The original routes were too… obvious. If Sina knows we’re coming, they’ll know to guard the pre-ordained entry points. Switching a few of them up won’t change much, and I’ve already sent word to our implants in Sina to know we’ll be entering in different locations.” 

I had to hand it to Erwin, he’d thought things through. Waiting to inform the main teams was suddenly made his best decision yet, since Jean knew nothing of the impending attack. Just that it would happen. 

Erwin reached across the table and snatched up the paper with red outlines on it.  _ Levi’s team _ was written at the top. “Levi, your squad will be entering through the parking garage now. The doors leading inside will be left open for two minutes. That’s the only time you’ll have to get all your men in. From there you’ll take the stairs up to the top floor where we’ve been informed the computer drives and information is.” 

Levi nodded and took the paper back from Erwin, looking it over before handing it off to me to do the same. 

“Hanji your team is outlined in yellow. You’re entering through the east entrance and taking the employee elevator down into the basement where most of their security systems are set up. You’ll work to disable those,  _ successfully _ this time, and wait for the signal from me or Mike to exit.” 

Hanji rolled her eyes at the ‘successfully’ portion of Erwin’s instructions and took the paper with her name on it. Memories of Jinae came flooding back to me. I remembered how the alarm system triggered while we were still inside the building, warranting a hasty and borderline suicidal escape. I  _ so _ did not want to go through that again. 

Erwin continued listing off the groups and where they would enter. There were four total, being led by Levi, Hanji, Mike, and Nanaba. Erwin would be issuing commands from one of the tech vans about a half mile from Sina. Two groups were formed for backup, but they were small and most definitely just in case of emergency. Erwin made it perfectly clear that we were to avoid the use of the support teams by any means necessary. 

Or as he had so gracefully put it, “Don’t get shot.” 

“We attack in two days. It might seem like a wait considering the severity of our situation, but we can’t afford to be hasty and make a mistake. Too much is riding on this.” Erwin braced his hands on the table and gathered all the papers together, sliding them back into the manilla folder. “Today and tomorrow will be intensive training. No one skips out. We begin after breakfast. Dismissed.” 

Armin and the other MP agents were the first to leave, and Nanaba trailed out after them with a stiff nod in Erwin’s direction. Guess I was right about the 24 hour watch thing. Hanji left with Mike and looked serious as she discussed something I couldn’t hear. Levi motioned for me to follow him out, so I did. While the others made their way down the stairs, Levi led me upstairs to the top floor. At first I thought he wanted to drink, but we ended up on the roof. 

He had a cigarette in his mouth by the time I turned around, and he tossed the tiny box over to me. I fiddled with it for a second, a bit concerned with how tense he looked. “You alright?” 

Nodding as he exhaled, he tipped his head back against the wall. “This is getting more and more complicated. I never expected things to turn out like this.” 

“You told me you’ve been here a while. You signed on to help Erwin with all this right? With others?” I was recalling the past conversation I’d had with him. While that night was a flurry of tension and drinking, I also remembered him telling me about Isabel. 

Levi nodded. “Yeah. That doesn’t mean I got a play by play of everything we’d have to do. No one can predict the future. Now I’m just tired.” 

I plucked Levi’s lighter from the hand not holding his cigarette and finally lit my own. He took it back from me without a word and stuffed it in his pocket. We both got about halfway through the cigs when I asked, “Would you ever quit?” 

“And do what?” he answered without pause. “Whatever this is- killing, shooting? It’s all I’m any good at. Erwin gives the orders, I follow them. Anything in between is to be anticipated and dealt with. You know I never went to school? Not once have I set foot anywhere academic. Couldn’t afford it, and by the time I realized it was something viable I could do, it was too late.” 

I nodded, completely understanding what he was saying and where he was coming from. I’d never had the time to consider leaving this… business. After everything with Shadis, I’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire. But to leave? If I was offered an out, I don’t know if I would take it. What the hell does someone with sixteen years of killing experience do after being told they don’t have to look over their shoulder anymore? 

Getting roped into this kind of life was as permanent as dying. There was really no way you could leave it, even if you did it of your own volition. How could you leave inbred habits? I couldn’t imagine it. Apparently Levi felt the same way. 

“Anyways, I can’t leave now. I wouldn’t. You can’t either, whether you’re aware of it or not.” He fixed me with a look, but I just nodded and took another drag of my cigarette. I knew that better than anyone. “Neither can those friends of yours. They have to know that. Especially now.” 

“They know. I don’t think anyone else will leave. Jean was an unknown from the start, but everyone else here knows what's at stake.” 

Levi laughed, and as always, the action startled me. I knew he  _ could _ laugh, but he never  _ did _ , so the sound was jarring. But all the same, I liked it. I wished he would laugh more. “I don’t think they do. More than likely they’re just scared shitless now and won’t go anywhere because they value their lives.” 

“Or that,” I relented and turned my gaze to mountains sheltering the Underground base. The sun had long since risen over them, but the early morning light was still tinged orange. We stood on the roof in silence for a few minutes longer, finishing our cigarettes. I was going to follow routine and head inside before Levi quietly, but his voice halted me before I could move to the hatch. 

“I know I said you can’t leave now. But after, if you were able to, would you?” He took a drag halfway through. “Where would you go, what would you do? All that cliche shit.” 

Stifling a laugh, I moved so I was straddling the railing with my back to the edge. Seriously considering his question, I thought about all the places I’d jokingly told myself I would like to visit. Sure, I’d left Trost and the surrounding area for work a few times. But it was for work. I’d never had a real ‘vacation’ before. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.” 

The confession seemed to take Levi by surprise, and he regarded me for a few seconds. “Not even a beach house? Or a dream scenario involving skinny dipping with some tropical resort goddess you’ve got in that pretty head of yours?” 

For reasons unbeknownst to me, the thought didn’t appeal to me in the slightest. Not like it would have once upon a time. Levi’s compliment made my ego dance though. “At this point I just want to get wasted. Sleep past noon. That’s ideal enough for me.” 

Levi laughed again. It was a deep and rich sound, almost bizarre to hear because I wouldn’t think he could make a noise like that. I wondered if Hanji and Erwin ever heard him laugh. I’d heard it twice today, which made me feel like I was some messiah or something. 

“Ideal enough for most people,” he muttered, still smiling slightly. Extinguishing his cigarette on the underside of his boot, he flicked the end away and pushed off the wall. “You should get something to eat. You’re helping with training again. See if you can’t rope that bigger guy into helping too. What’s his name? Blond, buff, looks like he knocks heads for fun?” 

“Reiner?” 

“Yeah, him. Get him to help.” 

The process in which Levi detached himself from the wall and leave was seemingly one of the most fascinating things I’d ever seen. His face contorted into one of effort as he cracked his neck and back before checking his pockets for all his things. His earlier smile was gone now, the usual frown that covered his face set in place. Casting me one last look, he headed towards the hatch to the roof. Slipping inside, he left the door open, and I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. 

“Yikes,” murmuring to no one in particular, I continued to stare at the hatch. I stayed up on the roof for a few minutes longer, not one thought in particular standing out in my mind. I dazed for a while before the sounds of agents on the training grounds urged me to get moving and find Reiner. And maybe a granola bar or something for breakfast. The eggs here were too iffy to consider eating. 

 

***

 

Shortly after ransacking the mess hall for whatever fragments of tolerable food were left, I ended up with an apple and one of those soft, chewy granola bars. Y’know. The shitty ones. 

I found Reiner- where else? In the tech support room with Bertholdt. No surprise there. Joke while I might, I was happy to see Reiner looked much better than he had when I found him squatting in my house with the others. Years seemed to have fallen away from his face, and he looked like the mid-twenties, gym addicted man I’d worked with. 

He was surprisingly willing to teach the other agents, if only because he knew it was his opportunity to show off. Sure enough, I was completely ignored during training. Reiner took to flipping his gun around before firing off shots and hitting targets for the grand majority of morning classes. When it finally came time to practice hand to hand, I all but  _ forced _ him to step down. 

Reiner was more like an angry bull when he fought. There really wasn’t a specific way that he fought. He just… charged, I guess. He had strength on his side for sure, but if you were quick and agile enough (like me), it was easy to get around him and let his own momentum fuck him over. 

And he knew it too. 

Thus, he let me take over without much complaint. 

After morning classes finished and everyone shuffled off to lunch, I stayed behind to look over the training plans for the afternoon class. Everything was pretty much the same, except Levi would be joining Reiner and I to help teach. In the meantime, everyone headed indoors to the mess hall. 

It wasn’t hard to miss the Military Police agents. For one thing, the Survey Corps. agents were all glaring daggers at the group off to the side of the mess hall. That, and the MP group was the most somber looking. While part of me knew they all had their right to be as upset as they wanted about Jean, I was also frustrated. They shouldn’t let that assholes motives run them ragged. How was that fair to any of them? 

“Jeez, it’s like a funeral over here,” I said as I slid into an open spot at the end of the table. I’d snatched a premade sandwich off one of the serving trays and took a bite once I was situated, wincing a bit when I realized it was tuna. 

Fuck tuna. 

“Hey Eren. How goes training?” Sasha asked from the other end of the table. She looked weary, but still smiled at me. 

“Same as always. More interesting with Reiner helping out.” 

“By which you mean nothing gets done?” Armin interjected and plopped a spoonful of jello into his mouth. He sucked on the spoon before saying, “Everyone remembers how difficult he was back at Trost. The class clown.” 

Petra’s head shot up from her lunch tray, brows drawn in confusion. “I thought Eren was the class clown?” 

Connie laughed at that and slammed his hand down on the table. A few heads swiveled in our direction at the noise, but I couldn’t be bothered to care. Everyone was finally livening up a bit. “Are you kidding? He was that one kid who barely spoke and when he did it was to threaten other people or tell us to shut up.” 

I winced and lowered my half raised sandwich. “No way… I wasn’t that big of an asshole.”

Connie’s eyes got comically wide. “Uh, yeah you kinda were. This wit and charm you’ve found were nowhere near your sixteen year old self. You were so serious. So broody. I can’t even remember a time when you smiled. The high marks you got in training went straight to your head. We were all peasants to you- the horror of interacting with those beneath you!” 

He threw a hand over his heart dramatically, and I fought the urge to toss my sandwich at his head. “You think you’re funny or something, don’t you?” 

“Of course he does,” Marco muttered, though he was fighting a smile as he looked up at Connie. 

“On the contrary. We just established Reiner was the class clown, right?” Connie winked at me, and the look I sent him conveyed the fact that he was on my shit list very clearly. 

“Anyways,” Petra interjected, finally managing to redirect the conversation. “Is there any kind of special training you have to go through with the other agents Eren?” 

“There isn’t really anything ‘special’ to train. It’s a mission, same as all the others, with higher stakes. Nothing can be added to what these people already know except experience.” 

“Which our lovely number one student here has,” Connie was back with his mock praise. My sandwich was really itching to meet his face. “But seriously. These people have like… maybe the number of people that were at Trost before the attack. One building’s worth of agents with no backups. The MP has an endless supply of backup agents  _ and _ Titans. How do we beat that if we lose as many people as I’m thinking we will?” 

God, he really knew how to take a shit on the mood didn’t he? “I don’t know Connie. I’d offer you a motivational speech but I’m really too tired to give a shit.” 

“He’s right Connie. Leave him alone. We’re all tired. Save the antics for Sina.” Petra’s motherly tone rang clear to everyone at the table, and Connie sat down knowing there was no arguing against Petra. 

Lunch flew by fast after that, the mood at the table much lighter than it had been when I arrived. Grateful for the change in pace, I was almost disappointed to go back to training. But when I saw Levi standing on the training grounds wearing his standard uniform and a chest full of wooden knives next to him, I knew it would be a worthwhile training session. 

“The difference between the morning group and the afternoon one is that the morning group primarily consists of the backup teams. They don’t need to know as much as the infiltration teams, but they’re still plenty prepared.” Levi said to me when I gestured questioningly at the chest. 

“So the afternoon group gets to play with sticks and the morning group doesn’t?” 

He barely showed a reaction to my quip, instead kicking the chest towards the group of expecting agents. “Everyone take one. We’ll practice close range attacks with standard backup weapons for now. Anything can happen at Sina so I want everyone prepared to use guns, knives, fists, or even a damn branch to fight. Understood?” 

A series of ‘yes’s and grunts in affirmation were all Levi needed to hear before turning to look Reiner up and down. He didn’t look remotely impressed, if that’s what he was supposed to look like. Which was odd, considering it was him who wanted me to bring Reiner into training the other agents in the first place. 

“You any good with close combat?” he asked in a bored tone. 

Reiner had the nerve to look a bit wary- hell, even a little scared, of Levi. He looked at me, but I wasn’t about to answer for him when Levi had his steely grey eyes glued to the blond in an unnerving, unwavering fashion. “Uh, yes sir. But I’m better with guns for sure.” 

Levi sighed and broke eye contact. “Good enough. If anything you’re just a large target for the afternoon. You understand the mechanics of armed hand to hand I’m assuming?”

Reiner nodded. 

“Then correct anyone’s form if it’s incorrect. These people know what to do, they just need a bit of criticism here and there. Let them work out most of it on their own if it’s a small misstep.” 

Reiner stuttered out a weak, “Yes sir,” before scurrying off to the other agents. 

“For such a big guy he sure scares easy.” 

I looked over at Levi and cocked a brow at him. “You’re kidding right? Do you have any idea how intimidating you are?”

Grey eyes rolled in their sockets and connected with mine. “I have a clue but enlighten me.”

“Very. You’re very intimidating.” 

His eyes left mine and settled on the now clashing forms of the practicing agents. “You don’t seem fazed.”

I didn’t? In the beginning I’d recognized Levi’s authority and abilities, so I was careful not to underestimate him or insult him. More than that though, I thought I got along well with him. Disregarding the whole crotch punch incident we hadn’t had any issues. If anything I felt… comfortable with Levi.

“Yeah, well. I’m used to you by now is all.” 

He looked like he wanted to press the issue out of sheer curiosity, but a loud gunshot rang out over the training grounds. My head jerked towards the direction of the sound, and I noticed birds flying up and away from the shelter of the trees. Levi uncrossed his arms and stepped forward, searching the area for the source of the sound. I did the same, as did a couple of agents who had been practicing. Most of them didn’t seem to think anything was wrong and continued sparring. 

“Was that one of ours?” I asked Levi. 

He narrowed his eyes as he scanned the far end of the field, effectively ignoring my question. I walked around him and towards the direction the shot came from. It was probably nothing, just a shot fired at the shooting range. I told myself that over and over again, not wanting to get caught in the middle of another damn fire fight on home turf. But when a second shot rang out in the newfound silence of the training grounds, I picked up my pace against Levi’s commands that I stay close. 

I was halfway across the field when I saw movement from the trees leading to the forest, and that alone told me something was wrong. No one had any reason to be out in the forest, and the shooting range was closer to the main building than it was to the wooded area. When I saw a blatantly older man step out of the trees wearing the most pathetic excuse of a youthful disguise I’d ever seen, the dread feeling in my gut solidified. 

He looked behind him once before hesitantly stepping out of the tree line and into the dying midday light. It was then I saw the gun he was working into the waistband of his pants. 

This guy wasn’t one of ours. 

As soon as that thought hit me, I took off sprinting. Levi yelled something behind me, as did Reiner, but I couldn’t make any of it out over the sound of the wind racing past my ears. The man near the trees saw me coming when I was closing the thirty feet mark between me and him, and he reached behind him for his gun. 

_ Too slow, _ I thought. His hand probably barely found the handle of the gun when I slammed into him and sent us both sprawling in the gravel in a flurry of limbs and shouts. Taking advantage of the fact I landed on top of him, I straddled his hips and made sure to dig my knees into his sides as harshly as possible. I landed a punch directly between his eyes, and his hands came up to clasp his now bleeding nose. 

I saw Levi skid to a stop next to me, half reaching out to me and half ready to reach for his own gun. “What the hell is this?” 

“That’s what I’d love to know. Who the fuck are you? Start explaining, you’ve got ten seconds.” 

“You-” 

I lifted his upper half by the collar of his shirt and slammed his head back into the gravel, ignoring his cry of pain. “I didn’t ask about me. I asked about you. 5 seconds, or I kill you with my hands and not a blessed fucking gun.” 

“Traitors all die,” he spat out, sending flecks of blood flying from his blood coated lips. “The Capital won’t let a single one of you bastards live.” 

My whole body went numb then, and I looked into the forest where he’d emerged from earlier. “What did you do…” 

He said nothing, so I turned back to him and slammed him into the gravel again. “What did you do?!” White hot rage, so potent I was positive I could  _ taste it _ , consumed my entire being. The asshole started fucking  _ laughing _ , and I shot off him and took off into the forest. 

I didn’t have to walk far before the unmistakable scent of blood permeated the air. Frantically, I searched the forest floor. Who had he hurt? I’d wring his scrawny fucking neck myself. I was so  _ angry _ but I was so fucking  _ terrified _ too. Traitors and the Capital? No doubt he was talking about anyone affiliated with the MP. Those fucking papers the Titans had stolen had given them a damn list of everyone they’d need to kill to ‘purge’ those they deemed necessary. 

When I finally found what he’d done, I couldn’t hold back the choked sob that escaped my lips. I was numb all over again, looking down at the body, and I stumbled towards it. 

“Fuck- no, please. Please,  _ please _ , Armin no.” I wanted to scream at the indecency of it all. There were two bullet wounds, one in his chest and the other directly in his head. Which had hit first? They were both fatal, meaning that fucking monster of a man had shot him after he’d already gone down. Armin- fucking  _ defenseless _ Armin,  _ my _ Armin.

I collapsed to my knees beside his already paling form and placed shaky hands on his stomach. My hands became soaked with warm blood in an instant, and I realized I’d been so close. Barely 60 metres away, yet unbeknownst to me my best friend was getting gunned down in the forest like some feral animal. 

“Dammit. Dammit!” Fuck. Emotion snaked its way up my throat and another warbled cry escaped my lips. Who had been there to fucking  _ help  _ him!? No one had been around- he’d died  _ alone _ . He was supposed to be  _ safe _ here- they all were. Tears worked their way up into my eyes, but I squeezed them shut. I refused to cry. Not when I still needed to go back out there and face down the son of a bitch who had done this in the first place. 

I forced myself to stand, taking a good, long look at Armin’s body. My mind went to Jean, and I never hated him more than I did in that moment. Would anything have changed if he’d stayed? I didn’t know. Maybe it was him leaving that had triggered this chain of events in the first place. There was really no way to know. But looking at Armin now, I knew it didn’t matter. Jean was as much as fault as I was for being ignorant to everything. 

“I’m sorry, Armin.” 

I promised myself I’d be back to him as soon as possible. The idea of leaving him out on the cold, wet forest floor was as painful as the action itself, but there was nothing I could do currently. When I returned to Levi and the detestable Titan, Levi had his boot planted firmly on the man’s chest with his gun leveled at his head. Reiner was a few feet away with Nanaba and Bertholdt, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. 

“What happened-” Levi started, but I cut him off by snatching his gun from his hands. His eyes widened and he reached for it, but I shoved him back easily and pointed the gun at the now cowering bastard’s legs. I pulled the trigger, relishing in the howl of pain that tore from his mouth. He clutched his bleeding knee as best he could before he rolled on to his side. 

“Eren?! What the hell are you doing!?” Reiner yelled, his expression one of confusion and abrasiveness. 

“He’s a fucking Titan. He killed Armin.” 

The sharp intake of breath came from Bertholdt. Levi swore under his breath, and Reiner clenched his fists at his sides. He was undoubtedly thinking the same thing I had. “Armin?” 

I nodded, never taking my eyes off the Titan’s squirming form. “Shot twice. You had to make sure, didn’t you? That he was really dead?” 

The man beneath me glared at me from his spot on the ground and managed to roll so he could spit at my feet. “That’s right. And he is. Dead as dead can be.” 

I didn’t even think as I lifted the gun again, firing off another shot directly between his splayed legs. More screaming ensued, and this time Levi didn’t move to take the gun from me. I could tell he wanted to, but he knew there was no way I was giving it up without a hell of a fight. “I’ve got to make sure you’re as broken as broken can be. How many shots was that?” 

“Go to hell,” the Titan growled at me, and I pressed the sole of my shoe to his bleeding crotch. His garbled shrieks and pleas were like static in my ears. 

“What was that?” 

More unintelligible whimpering. So I pressed down harder with my foot. “T-two! Fuck-” 

He was pretty weak to be caving so easy due to minimal torture like that. Probably why he was sent in the first place. The Capital knew he would get caught and figured sacrificing the weakest link was a worthwhile means to an end. 

“Two? I think I only count one. There’s no was you had any balls before that, so it doesn’t count.” I raised the gun again, aiming for his right shoulder, only to have it knocked away abruptly. 

In my shocked state, Levi managed to force me to the ground pretty quickly. But I retaliated by flipping over and pushing him back with my legs. The Titan stirred next to us but didn’t move, too pain ridden to try. I deflected a near fatal jab to my throat with one broad swing of my arm and dove to the left to avoid anything else Levi was going to throw my way. That action seemed to suit him just fine, considering he just wanted me away from the Titan. The look on his face said it all; I’d done more than was probably deemed necessary. 

“You can’t just go and kill him, Eren! He’s a prisoner now, and we can get information out of him.” 

“He’s trash!” I retorted, taking a step towards him. Levi blocked my path again, and that familiar rage started to pool in my stomach once more. “Are you fucking insane?! You’re protecting him! Go look and see what he fucking did to Armin!” 

The last bit of my sentence was muffled by arms wrapping around my torso and lifting me off the ground. I’d started advancing forward again, and I got close enough to the point where Levi lifted the newly retrieved gun at me to keep me at bay. But Reiner’s damn tree trunk arms canceled out the use of any weapon, and my thrashing against him was futile. 

“Go fucking look Reiner! Go look at Armin and tell me you can tolerate that fucker still breathing!” 

“Eren, calm down. Please-” Reiner cut off when I started kicking more, adamant to get back to the murderer on the ground so I could gouge his eyes out with my own hands. Behind us, Nanaba started talking into her phone, probably contacting Erwin. I didn’t give two shits what Erwin would have to say about this situation. The only thing that stuck out in my mind was that Armin was dead, Levi was protecting his murderer, and I was without a doubt going to murder that Titan by any means necessary. 

“Jesus Christ, is this why he’s the damn bloodhound of the Military Police?” Levi asked someone behind me, and I tried harder to claw at his stupid emotionless face. Managing to free one of my arms only to have it held back again, I screamed and tried to kick my knees over my head to shake off Reiner’s stubborn hold. But he stepped back when his weight started to falter. 

“That won’t work on me Eren. I know all your tricks. Just calm down,  _ please _ . He’ll get what’s coming to him, I promise. He will pay for what he’s done but please, Eren. We need to get Armin out of the forest and we need to interrogate this guy for every drop of information he’s worth.” 

The fire raging inside me quelled a bit at that, and I remembered that above all else, I wanted to get Armin out of the forest. Taking a deep breath did nothing to further calm me down, but it did seem to make Reiner and Levi feel better. The tension in Levi’s stance dissipated, and Reiner reluctantly set me down. When I didn’t make a move to lunge at the Titan, he fully released me. 

Looking back at the field, I saw Hanji and Erwin heading in our direction. A few agents in uniform trailed behind them, weapons at the ready. On the opposite side of the tent I could see Marco, Sasha, and the other MP agents watching the spectacle. They looked confused, and I despised the fact that I would have to tell them what happened. After everything they’d been through- everything  _ everyone _ had been through, no one deserved this. Armin didn’t deserve this. 

My best friend was dead. I was going to be sick… 

“Hey?” 

I tensed again, that ugly rage unfurling ever so slightly in the pit of my belly at the sound of his disgusting voice. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the Titan staring at me, his black eyes unblinking as he slowly grinned a bloody smile. 

“He cried, y’know.” 

I snapped. 

With a scream of pure, unadulterated rage I spun past Reiner as he grabbed for me once more, and I avoided Levi entirely with my speed. My fists came down hard and fast, connecting with flesh and bone. I didn’t know if it was his face, chest, or something else entirely I was hitting. And I didn’t care. I hit, and I hit, and I hit, and only when multiple pairs of hands pulled me off the Titan did I manage to stop. Not even by choice. 

I continued to struggle, seeing only red as my eyes locked onto the still form of the Titan laying on the ground. I recognized Hanji through the corner of my eye as she strode forward holding something- a needle? I recoiled suddenly, but not quick enough. The sharp prick that blossomed across my neck was icy cold and warm all at once, and soon the hands that had held me in place disappeared. 

As the drug took over, I knew a few things. One, I was going to kill Hanji when I woke up. Two, I was going to  _ maim _ the Titan when I woke up. Three, I was going to collectively bash Reiner and Levi’s heads together at the first opportunity  _ when I woke up _ . And four? 

I was going to see to it that every single Titan ended up dead and buried. No matter how long it took, and no matter how much it cost me, I would end the Capital for this. I’d kill my bastard Titan father, and I’d personally put a bullet in every person responsible. For Armin’s sake, and for the sake of everyone else at the mercy of the murderous assholes we’d blindly followed for too long.

And with that, my world faded out into nothingness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you love months of update absence and god awful angst raise your hand  
> no one ?  
> good.   
> i'm sorry


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> coming at you live from 'what the fuck is going on central', it's chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay everyone :') this chapter is longer to make up for it...
> 
> Levi POV !

Potent fear mixed with anger and frustration erupted in my chest, and it took everything in me not to turn my gun on four-eyes and pull the trigger. Aside from the blatant rage I was feeling, I was also distinctly shocked. More than that; worried.

Reiner had pulled Eren off the bleeding Titan for a second time, though by the time he had the damage was already done. Red streaked down the man’s face, his eyes already swollen shut around his beady black irises. My attention had been on the him when Hanji and Erwin arrived, but nothing made me more attuned to their presence than Reiner’s startled gasp as Eren fell forward into his arms.

I was at his side in a second, completely disregarding the Titan five feet away. My hands hovered over his still form, the only sign of movement coming from his eyes as they flicked back and forth over the sky above. I wasn’t even sure he could see _me_ and I was nearly on top of him.

“Eren?” He didn’t look at me when I asked, and no sooner had I tried did his eyes drift shut. The tension seeped from his body as sleep unwillingly snatched him from the present. While I was relieved I wouldn’t have to shoot him to immobilize him, I was without a doubt angry.

I scowled up at Hanji, taking satisfaction in the way she backed up a step clutching the syringe to her chest. Erwin had come up behind her in all the confusion, arms crossed and feet spread in what I knew to be a guarded stance. Whether he was ready to defend himself or Hanji I didn’t know.

“Thank you for calling us, Nanaba. I’m glad we got here when we did.” Erwin said, not once looking away from me as he did. Now that there was a name to direct my clear set anger to, I wanted to glare at her. But Erwin’s staring contest with me seemed more prudent. He was thinking something- and I didn’t have a fucking clue what it was.

“Of course,” said the shorter woman. Her form was mostly shielded from my view due to Reiner’s hulking body, but I could make out the way her voice shook a bit. What Eren had done- no, what the Titan _and_ Eren had done, had undoubtedly rattled her.

“That was an act of complete fucking stupidity saturated in desperation if I’ve ever seen one,” I spat at the scientist. She looked at me once again and pursed her lips. “Did you even think before you slammed a fucking needle into his face?”

“Calm down, Levi.” Erwin used his big boy voice, but I was fuming, and my speech filter had long since been lost.

A short laugh burst from my lips, sounding foreign even to me. “A god damn Titan sneaks into the base and kills someone and you want me to _calm down_? When you very well just pissed off the incredibly dangerous MP agent who has been helping us? No holds barred after this, Erwin.”

He stiffened, clearly surprised at the (albeit blunt) rundown of events. “He’s a Titan?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Who did he kill?”

“Armin. We’re short an MP agent now.” I chanced a look at Eren’s unconscious form. “Or two, depending on how long that sedative works.”

Erwin swore under his breath and Hanji clutched her hands tight together. Over her shoulder, I saw the agents who had been training lingering on the training grounds. I suppose it was too much to ask that this be kept under wraps, but I wasn’t naive. Besides, Eren’s friends would have to find out the news eventually. Especially considering one of their friends was missing regardless if they were aware of it or not, and Eren was positively incapacitated for what I guessed would be the rest of the day and through the night.

Things were rough all over.

I sat back on my hunches at the same time apologies flew from Hanji’s mouth. “Oh god, I’m so sorry Levi! I thought he was blindly attacking the man- and Nanaba said to bring something to sedate a prisoner but when I saw Eren on top of him just _hitting_ him like that I didn’t think.”

I heaved a ridiculously heavy sigh and ran my fingers through my hair. Knowing better than to hold something like this over Hanji’s head, I just nodded. My primary focus was still Eren. For whatever reason, I was feeling genuine concern for him. He’d lost a friend and gotten shot up with a sedative all in the span of ten minutes. He was my responsibility anyways… though I was sure Erwin would question the professionalism in my current reaction.

I saw movement from behind Erwin and noticed Marco walking over to us. The rest of the Military Police recruits were still standing on the field, watching in nervous anticipation. The brunette girl- Sasha, was whispering something to Connie. Figuring that since Eren was now unavailable to deliver them the news, the job would fall to me.

Shit.

“Captain Levi, the others are asking questions. Sorry if this is out of line, but we wanted answers.” His voice shook with the same nervousness that had coated Nanaba’s earlier, but he was projecting a confident facade. That was, until, he spotted Eren next to me. “Oh my god. Is he-”

“He’s not dead,” I interjected before he could finish the question. “Just unconscious.”

The relief was clear on his face, but I knew it wouldn’t remain that way.

“There’s been a breach,” Erwin continued where I’d left off. “There’s bad news. I’m sorry Marco, but we can’t discuss it here. Tell your friends to meet us in the War Room as soon as possible. Levi, Hanji, take Eren down to his room and make sure there’s no way for him to _leave_ his room. There’s enough trouble to deal with without him waking up and knocking heads later.”

I wanted to argue- hell, I had to practically bite my tongue from doing so. But I knew in our current situation it wouldn’t help. Erwin was angry in his own way. He motioned for a few trainees to assist us in carrying him, because let’s face it, the kid was heavier than he looked. Hanji and I led the way to the main building and then past the barracks and into the scattered cells that took up the bottom level. We said nothing as the trainees filtered in after us and unceremoniously dropped Eren onto his bed.

I grit my teeth in silent disapproval as two agents clasped dual iron cuffs around his wrists and experimentally tugged on the chains. Hanji eyed me warily and gripped my shoulder in what I assumed was a gesture of support. Frankly I was feeling too many emotions to shrug it off.

“Thank you. That will be all for now. See to it the agents on the field continue their training.” Hanji’s voice held no room for argument- not that there would be any after the shitstorm that had just occurred.

The door to Eren’s room was left open after they left, and the two of us were left standing in silence. It felt like history was repeating itself. After all, this was seemingly the same position the three of us had been in when Eren had first arrived to the Underground. Except this time he was lacking the plethora of bullet wounds that had covered the expanse of his body the first time. The difference was this time around, I knew how strong willed Eren was. Seeing him look vulnerable, completely against his own control, was nerve wracking.

“He should be up by tomorrow morning. I didn’t inject him with a lot of the sedative, he got away from me before I could administer the full dose.” She fidgeted next to me, clearly feeling sheepish. “I really am sorry Levi. If I’d known I wouldn’t have done it.”

“It’s fine. Water under the bridge at this point.” Though I knew words would do little to sate her. She’d seen how pissed I was earlier. Suddenly I was pissed with _myself_ for letting my emotions get the better of me like that.

“What are you going to tell the MP agents?”

Sighing, I leaned crossed my arms over my chest. I stared at Eren like his unconscious body would somehow hold the answer to that heartbreaking question, but it didn’t. “The truth.”

A beat of silence followed my response before Hanji said, “This will destroy them.”

“I know. It nearly destroyed half of them when they thought Eren was dead. They’re closer than most Military Police agents ought to be.” And it was true. Most agents knew better than to form strong familial bonds, because there was no guarantee that anyone would survive past a certain point. Of course it still happened, but looking at Eren’s group of friends, they all looked more like a tiny family.

And they’d just lost a member.

Shit. This was turning out to be a crappy day.

“We should probably get upstairs. Erwin’s waiting.” _So are the agents_ , I thought. Dread was positively rolling off me in waves at the thought of facing them with such bad news.

I eyed Eren one last time, hating the idea of leaving him down here alone. On the off chance he did wake up before tomorrow morning, I didn’t want him to be alone. Chained to a bed in the dark with his grief for Armin as his only companion. I’d gone through loss before and although the process of grieving was different for everyone, I’d gone through it alone. Eren didn’t seem the type to feel something like grief without sharing his feelings with others. Especially others who could relate.

“He’ll be okay for an hour, Levi. You can come back after the meeting.” Hanji said, seemingly reading my thoughts. I pursed my lips and nodded, tearing my eyes away from Eren as I moved towards the door. Hanji shut it behind her, and soon enough we were heading towards the War Room.

If the shouts coming from inside were any indication, things were more decidedly _not_ going smoothly.

As I pushed open the door, I was greeted with the scene of Petra leaning across the table to jab Erwin in the chest with her finger. “You’re nothing but a self entitled prick! Caging him up downstairs like he’s some kind of animal when he was just protecting everybody! Where’s the fucking Titan right now, hm? I didn’t see anybody drag _his_ worthless, half-dead carcass into a cell!”

Ah. They’d been informed of Eren’s whereabouts.

“He’s been staying there the entire time he’s been here, Petra.” Bertholdt tried to calm the fuming woman down but his attempts were futile as her gaze landed on me standing in the doorway.

“And _you_ ,” she practically spat the words at me. “After everything he’s done for you ingrates you just let them cart him off like some hindrance?! He spoke pretty highly of you but now I see you’re nothing but a self absorbed _puppet_ who can’t think for himself.”

The air seemed to rush out of the room at that moment. The other MP agents who stood huddled together on the other side of the table looked 100% mortified. They took up about 70% of the room, and aside from Hanji (who most assuredly was equally horrified), the other 30% looked half amused and half grim. The seriousness of the situation couldn’t overshadow the fact that this woman had the balls to stand in my face and call me a puppet.

I narrowed my eyes at the offending woman and managed to control my temper at the same time Sasha came up behind Petra to steer her away. The older woman gave in without much of a fight, looking mostly defeated and exhausted as she took a seat near the back of the room. Sasha stayed with her, and I was grateful. This meeting was going to be hard enough as it was.

“Just tell us already. What the hell happened to Eren out there? Who is that ‘half-dead’ guy you took to the lab?” Connie, the apparent mascot for the MP agents, teetered forward over Marco who sat in another chair closer to the table.

Despite the many pairs of eyes that settled on me, I didn’t look at single person. The wall behind everyone had my attention.

“I’m… sorry. The breach today was an attempt to take out the MP agents here.” I didn’t feel anything as I spoke. I couldn’t even look at the kids. “The Titan Eren caught was… successful, in taking out one of you.”

Eyes widened and then narrowed across the room, everyone confused and scared all at once. The revelation was daunting, and I knew I was done when Connie asked to no one in particular, “Where… where is Armin?”

 

***

 

The meeting in the War Room finished pretty quickly after the news was delivered to the rest of the Military agents. Hanji muttered something to Erwin after everyone started sobbing, and something told me whatever she said was the reason we hadn’t had to sit through a debrief. I left before the others did, deciding that it was best for the MP agents to be alone together.

I stopped by my room to change my clothes and snatch up some reports that I needed to finish before heading down to Eren’s room. It was a little past six o’clock when I got there, and as predicted by Hanji, Eren was still asleep. It didn’t look like he’d moved at all since the recruits had dumped him there hours earlier.

I worked well into the night, not fully understanding why I was sticking so close to the brat but not reading too much into it at the same time. It was close to midnight when I heard the door at the top of the stairwell slam shut, followed by footsteps. Hanji pushed open the door and leaned against the doorframe, looking at me in an unreadable, infuriating way.

“What?” was all I said in greeting.

“How is he?” She sounded surprisingly serious. But then again, today’s events had effectively sucked up all the humor in the air.

“Still unconcious. Hasn’t moved an inch in hours. He’ll probably stay that way until morning.”

She nodded slowly, pushing her glasses further up her nose as she stared at Eren. “How are you?”

I clicked my tongue in response, not really knowing _how_ I was feeling. My own emotions confused me, and for some reason I felt it wasn’t fair for me to try to name them when the most prominent emotion of the night was ‘grief’. In the end, I left the question unanswered, and Hanji didn’t seem to mind.

“Are you planning on sleeping down here?” Her usual teasing tone was slipping back into her voice, which meant I’d be needing a blunt object soon.

Gesturing to the reports stacked at the foot of Eren’s bed, I said “I wasn’t really planning on sleeping.”

“And when has that ever been a good thing for you to do?”

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“Yes but the bags under your eyes and unhealthy plethora of caffeinated black tea you drink do little to deter concern.”

“Fuck off.”

Before Hanji could respond, Eren shifted enough to jar the shackles on his wrists. The sound was unexpected, thus my heart fell into my ass for a split second. Hanji faltered completely in the doorway, looking at the MP agent as if he’d grown a second head.

“There’s no way he’s waking up before morning, right?”

She furrowed her brow. “It was a fairly strong sedative, but I didn’t give him a lot. Like I said earlier, he managed to get away from me before I could administer all of it. It makes sense for him to wake up fairly soon, if you take into account his size and the dosage.”

Shaking my head, I shut the report that had been open in my lap and slapped it on the stacks of untouched ones on the bed. “This kid is a war machine,” I said more to myself than to Hanji. Sixteen years of training had produced a dangerous man who killed without hesitation, and his stamina was an entirely different thing to be feared. If he couldn’t kill his target outright, I was positive he could take his time and have enough energy to spare to finish the job later on.

Those thoughts made me wonder if he’d always been like that. He didn’t remember his past, but he’d been found when he was eight, so he had to remember some prepubescent habits. What had baby Eren been like?

“Well, I’ll finish my own work before clocking out,” Hanji said definitively and pushed off the doorframe. “Come to me straight away if he wakes up before morning. If he’s as haywire as he was earlier I may need to have another sedative ready.”

I bit my tongue to keep myself from making it clear that under _no_ circumstances would I let Eren end up like this again. It was too out of character- too disconcerting for me to tolerate it more than once. Instead, I nodded and turned my attention back to the sleeping brunet. The youthful quality his face held when he slept was ridiculous. When he was awake, Eren’s contagious swagger and confidence made him seem so much older than twenty-four.

Now though, I could legitimately say he looked beautiful.

His lips were parted and angled down in a natural sort of pout. The surprisingly dainty, straight nose that adorned the center of his face was free of any blemish or freckle, probably due to the tan quality of his skin. The striking eyes I knew he was hiding under closed eyelids came partnered with long, full lashes. Since he’d joined the Survey Corps his hair had grown longer, now stopping just above his shoulders. I imagined that he’d be able to tie it back at the nape of his neck, if he so chose to do.

It was at that moment that I realized Eren was more than just attractive. Because, let’s face it, every damn agent on the base _knew_ from the moment he set foot here he had the face of a greek god and the body to go with it. Like some higher power had hand sculpted a man who lacked the perfect amount of humanity to complete the world’s ugliest deeds. Behind the absent conscience he (and myself) suffered from, Eren was truly beautiful. When it came down to it, he was loyal to a fault, dedicated, hard working, and his general appearance was like icing on the metaphorical cake.

When the _fuck_ had I started to feel these things? To casually regard an agent from the enemy side with anything _but_ apprehension?

I needed a cigarette.

No, scratch that. I needed a joint at this point.

Tearing my eyes away from Eren’s face finally, I sat back in my chair and sighed. I kept my eyes trained on the ceiling, counting the tiny spots on the plaster there until I mindlessly stood up to shut the door to the room. The only source of light was coming from the lamp on the bedside table, so I elected to leave it on just in case I woke up needing to piss or something. The desk chair was as uncomfortable as the one I used in my room, but it didn’t make a difference to me as I sat back in it and crossed my arms over my chest.

Had I known that I’d be awake barely three hours later facing an incredibly angry Military agent, however, I would have _for sure_ smoked a joint before passing out.

 

***

 

It didn’t take much to wake me up. I hardly ever slept for long periods of time, and the short bursts of sleep I did experience were quelled by the slightest of sounds. So when the insistent yanking of chains started up, I was awake and alert.

Eren was sitting up in bed now, presumably working his wrists red with the shackles due to the force of his tugging. His expression was grim- no, more impassive than grim. He was nearly expressionless. His eyes were no longer the familiar teal color I’d grown to admire and love. No, now they were entirely black, his pupils dilated so much that only a sliver of the blue was showing.

He looked downright murderous.

“Eren! Stop, what the hell are you doing?” I shot out of my chair and stepped towards him, thinking my being awake would be enough to make him stop. But he didn’t make any sign that he heard me. He simply continued to yank at his restraints.

“Eren!” My hands clamped down on his bicep and pulled with enough strength to deter him from his actions. He jerked his arm from my hold but stopped thrashing, taking deep breaths as he glared at the chains connecting into the wall. Aside from the rise and fall of his chest, there was no other way to tell he was _alive_. He wasn’t moving or acknowledging me in the slightest.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I demanded. This was a hell of a sight to wake up to. Needless to say I was a little more than freaked out.

And he _still_ wasn’t responding. He continued to stare blankly at the space above his headboard, eyes blown wide and posture rigid all over. Without thinking I lurched forward and gripped his shoulders, shaking him as I moved so I was half sitting on his bed, half standing over him. “Eren!”

Shaking him did something; his breathing got faster and his hands came up to grip my wrists. His eyes went wide as though he was surprised, and though his head turned to look at me, he kept looking at the wall. I stopped shaking him and moved my hands to grip his face and force him to look into my eyes. It took a couple of seconds, but _finally_ his eyes left the wall and met mine. The black of his pupils shrunk dramatically in a matter of seconds, and he blinked up at me looking completely bewildered.

“...Levi?” His hands tightened around my wrists, their touch nearly searing against my cold skin. He took a ragged breath and dropped his gaze to my chest, but I gently tilted his head up again to capture his stare once more. Part of me was worried if I wasn’t paying attention, he’d revert back to that zoned version of himself. His eyes looked glazed over, but more out of confusion than whatever had been messing him up before. “What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t help the relieved sigh that escaped my lips, which just made Eren look more confused _and_ concerned.

“Levi?” he repeated, but I cut him off with the shake of my head.

“It’s fine. Christ, you scared me there for a second.”

“ _I_ scared _you_? You were looking at me like I died or something. What happened?”

The fact that he didn’t remember anything was plenty concerning in itself. But I was less concerned with the fact that he was forgetting why he was dazing; if he was forgetting why he was chained down here, I’d need to go through the explaining process again.

Armin’s death had already destroyed Eren in a matter of seconds when it had happened. I didn’t want him to go through it again, but what choice was there?

“Eren, what do you remember about yesterday?”

“Yesterday? I was training the recruits. With you. And with Reiner… we were on the field.” His brow furrowed, and his eyes left mine for the nth time. I let him look away though; to come to everything on his own. “I heard a gunshot.”

There was a pause before his body went slack and his hands slipped from my wrists. I let him go but stayed on the edge of his bed. The process in which he remembered was painful to watch; he leaned back against the headboard of his bed, closed his eyes, then squeezed them tighter. It didn’t stop tears from slipping out, though.

“I’m sorry, Eren. For everything that happened.” I was referencing the fact that I’d cut him off from the Titan, and that I’d let Hanji get close enough to put him under in the first place. Words wouldn’t be able to express how shitty I felt over Armin’s death. I felt partially responsible for what had happened to him. After all, we’d all been outside when it happened. Our security was supposed to be tight enough to prevent things like this from happening, but this time we’d messed up.

“Fuck…” his voice cracked as he leaned forward, curling in on himself. His shoulders were trembling but he didn’t sob or gasp like I thought he would. He was bottling it up, and I knew that was absolutely the last thing he needed to do.

But there was nothing I could say that could hope to lessen his pain. I was shit with empathy, but I knew I cared about Eren. So I’d have to try if I wanted to believe for a second I was at least a somewhat decent person. I shifted on the edge of the bed so I was next to Eren and kicked my legs up. The movement seemed to do what I’d intended, because Eren let his body lean against mine. Being a human pillow didn’t seem like the most effective of ways to help someone grieve, but it was all I had.

We sat like that for a while, Eren’s crying eventually stopping. I only knew because at one point he turned so he was staring up at the ceiling, and his eyes were dry. He seemed uncomfortable or unwilling to express any serious emotion. Like they were all muted or something.

I felt his weight shift, and he sat up straight on the bed and looked down at the shackles still clamped firmly around his wrists. His eyes were rimmed red, but he still managed to look deadly serious as he looked at me and said, “Take these off.”

I worked the muscle in my jaw, knowing I’d have to refuse him. As much as _I_ hated the fact that he was wearing those, Erwin had ordered it. Everyone who had seen what he’d done to that Titan’s face was more comfortable knowing those shackles were on. “I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“I want to. But taking them off goes against what Erwin ordered and I’m not about to piss him off. He’s angry enough as it is.”

“Yeah?” he challenged, eyes blazing. “Well so am I. I haven’t forgotten that the bastard who killed Armin is still breathing. No thanks to you.”

I bristled at the jab, but knew it wasn’t my place to fight him back. Instead of responding, I slid off his bed and stood, gathering the reports that had ended up spread across the foot of the mattress. Eren watched me, frustration rolling off of him in waves. If I were to unlock his restraints, the first thing that would happen was I’d become collateral damage in his beeline for the door. In any particular order, he’d beat the shit out of Erwin and Hanji, murder the Titan after finding his location, and then go to his friends.

Like I said; in any particular order.

The reports were stacked as neatly as I cared to make them at the end of the bed, and Eren was still glaring daggers into the side of my head. There was no way I was removing his restraints. I’d hated seeing them go on as much as I hated seeing them _still_ on, but ultimately the best place for Eren right now was down here. Even if it meant pissing him off, I wasn’t taking them off.

“I have to go,” I said. “I’ll find your friends. You should talk with them.”

He recoiled like I’d slapped him and narrowed his still narrowed eyes at me. “You’re kidding, right? Don’t tell me you’re seriously gonna leave me down here.”

“I’m seriously gonna leave you down here.”

He scared the shit out of me by yanking on the shackles again, the loud bang that accompanied the action echoing off the walls. We stared at each other for a few seconds, sizing one another up no doubt, before I broke eye contact and turned towards the door.

“Levi!” he shouted, and I stopped halfway through the doorway. “You’re gonna kill the Titan right? You’re not going to let him get away with what he did?”

“That’s the completely opposite way of how I work.” Looking back at him over my shoulder, I pursed my lips. “I know you’re less than pleased about him still breathing right now but I’m not going to hold the front gate open for him.”

Some of the tension seeped from his posture and he nodded, softening his expression. The unspoken acceptance of his current situation made me feel better about leaving. But I’d still wind up getting his friends to meet him down here. Something told me most of the kids would be awake, anyways.

I wound up going to my room first to deposit the reports I’d completed through the night. While I was organizing everything on my desk, I heard footsteps on the staircase at the end of the hall. After everything that had happened the previous day, caution took over curiosity, and I followed the sound up to the top floor with my gun in hand.

Pushing open the door leading to the bar revealed the source of the noise. Petra was behind the counter, clinking bottles together as she fished around for something. Though the door creaked when I entered, she didn’t notice me until she turned back around with an already half empty bottle of wine in her hands. She jumped a little when she saw me, but kept her ground and gripped the bottle tighter.

“What are you doing here?” she spat.

“I could ask you the same question. Those kids are probably better off with you level headed don’t you think?” I eyed the wine bottle and arched a brow at her.

Petra huffed and set the bottle down on the counter, producing a glass from the rack behind her. “Yeah, well. Not much I can do for them it seems.”

Realizing my gun was still out, I holstered it and stepped towards the bar. The woman looked uncomfortable to be in the same room as me, but said nothing as I took a seat. She poured herself some wine, more than what would be considered sufficient, and twirled the glass in front of her face as she eyed me warily.

“This won’t change anything,” I muttered half heartedly.

“It doesn’t have to. It just has to help me out _now_.”

“Were you close to Armin?”

She hesitated before responding, which I took in turn as her choosing not to respond at all. But surprisingly, she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand. “I’m close to all of them in a way. I’ve worked with them the entire time they worked for the MP. I’ve known Eren the longest. Armin was always around Eren, especially when Eren wound up in the hospital because of jobs. I knew him well enough that I felt like I… I dunno, owed him something? I feel like I owe them all something. They’ve all got backstories galore filled to the brim with sad home life stories. I always looked out for them.”

“That’s admirable. You know what happened wasn’t your fault though, right? It was no one’s fault.”

“I… know that. But I still feel responsible.”

We sat there a minute longer in silence, Petra drinking her wine periodically and me eventually pulling out a cigarette and lighting up. I didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t think there was much to say. We both knew what happened. We’d both been there when everyone else reacted to Armin’s unfortunate death. Not to mention, she wasn’t insulting me, which made me want to watch what I said. More or less, I just didn’t want to upset the woman further.

“Was Eren really happy here?” Petra asked without looking at me. “Bertholdt said he’s been sleeping down in the cells the entire time he’s been here, so him being there _now_ isn’t a big deal. But I don’t know if I can believe that. It seems so against Eren’s character.”

I snorted, understanding exactly what she meant. “He has been there the whole time. I don’t know if he’s necessarily happy about it but he stopped bitching once we took off the shackles he had on when he first came here.”

Shockingly, Petra said nothing about the shackles. The only sign she’d heard me was the affirmative grunt I’d gotten in response. “He’s always been a bit unmanageable. But it wasn’t his fault. I was at Trost when Shadis first found him. He was eight and I was twelve. I started working for the Military Police when I was ten because my father left my mother and I with a pile of debt and I wanted to help my mom any way I could. Regardless, Eren was distant. A problem child, as Shadis so delicately put it after one too many arguments.”

“What was Eren like? As a kid?” Seemed hard to believe I’d been wondering the very same thing just hours earlier.

She laughed and shook her head, taking a sip of her wine. “He was quiet for the first two years he was at Trost. When he was ten though, he started focusing all his attention on training. It wasn’t just that he needed to, because Shadis had always fully intended on making Eren an agent. He _wanted_ to. Eren is a great agent because of it; his ambition and natural abilities drove him ahead of everyone.”

_He was like a natural born killing machine._

I bit my tongue at the thought, remembering Eren’s crazed behavior with the Titan and to himself tonight. _Had he always been like that? Should I ask?_

“But he was plenty cute too. He’d come down to the Med Wing to talk with me after his classes sometimes. There was this crappy little coffee shop down the street that I hated but he loved, and sometimes he’d bring me coffee from there during lunch. I’d force myself to enjoy it because he went all the time for my sake. Plus it’s the thought that counted. I wasn’t about to hurt a ten year olds feelings.”

I was half way through a drag before I practically scoffed at the idea of Eren bringing an older girl coffee. “You think it was a crush? It takes a certain kind of dedication to buy coffee for two everyday.”

Petra’s laugh was quick and lingered, bringing a sort of light flush to her face. “He actually confessed his love for me once when he was younger. But he was so dedicated to his training at the time, he told me that he wished more for my civilian safety than a relationship.”

“That sounds like something straight out of a movie,” I muttered. Petra nodded and sighed, burying her head into the crook of her arm on top of the counter.

“Things are a mess.”

She didn’t have to elaborate. I knew what she meant; that times had undoubtedly been easier before Eren got roped into working with me. With the Underground. It was easier to live blissfully arrogant lives rather than smack in the middle of a borderline civil war. But the bottom line was that everything happening now had been happening long before Trost had been attacked. People had been suffering for a long time, and for Erwin and the others, this wasn’t even the beginning.

We were interrupted by a knock at the door, and we turned to see Hanji standing in the doorway. I took a drag from my practically untouched cigarette and raised my brows at her in question. “Sorry to bother you both. I know it’s late, but I need your help with something Levi.”

Glancing over my shoulder, Petra gave me a tiny smile and pushed her glass away from her. “You go ahead. I’m gonna go get some sleep.”

She strode past me and nodded to Hanji, then disappeared around the doorframe. Hanji waited to speak until her footsteps had disappeared down the staircase, then looked to me with the same serious expression she’d had on earlier. “I didn’t expect to see you out of Eren’s room so soon.”

I ignored whatever implied connotation was held in that statement and continued with my cigarette. “He isn’t in a very… understanding mood.”

Surprise etched across her face at that, and she stood straighter in the doorway. “He’s awake? Already?”

“And not in the best of moods. Understandably. He wanted me to take off the shackles.”

“You didn’t, right?” I couldn’t believe I actually heard concern in her voice. Like she was worried what would happen if the restraints weren’t there to contain Eren.

“No. Though it’s not good to leave them on him much longer. Or we’ll have a hard time getting him to trust us again later.”

“You think he doesn’t trust us anymore? Because of the Titan?”

I thought about it for a second, then took another drag of my cigarette. I snuffed the end of it out in the ash tray and said, “His best friend is dead because our security was lax. We stepped in to prevent him from killing the person responsible. Now he’s chained down there with shitty feelings to keep him company. He’s going to come out charging like a fucking bloodthirsty bull.”

Hanji took everything I said in visibly. Cringing, then folding her arms across her chest. Closing herself off like that told me that she was, for sure, being weighed down by the incident. “He can’t stay mad forever,” she said matter-of-factly.

My silence told her how much faith I was putting in that possibility.

“The Titan is awake now. It’s why I’m here. Erwin wants us to interrogate him.”

The room suddenly seemed much colder, and I peered over my shoulder at Hanji to see her staring at me intensely. “Interrogate or _interrogate_.”

“You already know the answer to that. We have to work fast. Come on.”

 

***

 

The sickening crack that originated from somewhere inside the Titan reached my ears, accompanied by his foul scream. There was dried blood on his face and shirt from when Eren had gotten a hold of him. Both of his eyes were bruised, but one was swollen shut. The newer wounds he’d acquired weren’t entirely visible. Internal bleeding wasn’t necessarily visible. And his hands were clenched into fists, so I couldn’t see the fingers he was missing.

But they weren’t there. That much I was certain of.

Hanji shook her hand as the Titan rocked back on the legs of his chair, clearly feeling her punch. Just as he was about to tip back and crash to the floor, I caught the back of his chair with my foot and pushed him forward. The jolt of his seat hitting the ground made him whimper, and a bloody strand of drool slipped out of his mouth and seeped into his bloody pants.

I scowled and turned my attention to the reflective window across the room. Erwin was somewhere outside; not necessarily watching the spectacle, but he was aware of it. My mind went to Eren for a split second, and I briefly wondered how he would react when he realized what interrogation within the Underground consisted of.

Part of me even wondered if it was any different from Military Police tactics.

My attention was brought back to the Titan as he regained whatever bearings he had left by spitting a wad of bloody saliva at Hanji’s feet. She didn’t so much as flinch _or_ look away from his face as she stepped over the offending loogie and brought a knife down straight through the palm of his hand.

His scream was blood curdling, then transformed midway into a wheezy groan. The uninjured hand clenched and unclenched against the armrest of the chair he was tied to. I was pretty positive had there not been a restraint stretching across his torso, he would have collapsed on to the floor by now.

“We can keep this up for however long you want,” Hanji’s voice cut off his breathy moans. His dark eyes met hers, then flicked to mine as he clenched his fist again. “Just tell us what we want to know. Whether you do or not doesn’t particularly matter, since all your bosses will be dead before long.”

Despite everything leading up to the demand, the Titan laughed. It was an ugly sound, one that grated on my nerves. I narrowed my eyes and stepped forward, bringing my fist forward so it connected with the side of his nose.

More garbled sounds came from him, but I didn’t give him any time to flush out the pain he was feeling. Hauling him as far up as he could go with his restraints still existent, I got all up in his face and watched him blanch further.

“Tell me how you found this base. The Titans have a list with Military Police operative names right? I get that, but I don’t get how your repulsive self ended up within a mile of this place.”

“Nothing can be hidden from the Capital. You were kids playing with big toys and they let you,” his voice shook as he spoke, but his eyes narrowed with unspoken distaste. “You’re all screwed no matter what you do. K-kill me, it won’t change anything. You’ll be dead before the day is up.”

“If I have to listen to anymore cryptic shit spew from his mouth I’ll cut out his tongue.”

Hanji snorted. “May as well. He seems like more of a dead end than anything.”

I jerked him further by the collar of his torn shirt and relished in the fear that had taken root in his eyes. “Hear that? Time’s nearly up. If you have anything else to say now is the time to do it.”

The Titan’s mouth opened and closed as if he were stammering without making a noise. I released him and strode over to the table in the corner of the room covered in different pointy objects, inspecting each one carefully. As I stood there, the Titan’s breathing became more and more ragged. He had to be one of the more weak minded operatives behind the Capital, and I honestly didn’t understand how he could have been selected to be a Titan in the first place.

“W-wait! There is something. No one… knows about it. But you have to promise to let me go if I tell you.”

I looked over my shoulder at the Titan, then at Hanji. She looked surprised to hear the man bargaining in the first place, but she had that look on her face. The one I saw when she was about to make some scientific discovery and shit bricks in her lab. In short, the look mirrored determination. She wanted to hear what this lowlife had to share.

“You’re kidding right?” I said to her.

She shook her head and walked around so she was facing the Titan, but continued to speak to me. “We have too many unanswered questions Levi. Let’s entertain the idea of having some classified information under our belt alright?”

Silence filled the room, and I eyed the Titan. He looked nervous as hell, realizing that his fate rested in whether I felt like he had anything decent to say. Hanji wasn’t looking at me, but from the stubborn tilt of her head I could tell she wasn’t about to let me kill this guy. Or cut out his tongue anytime soon.

“This better be good or I won’t hesitate to pluck your teeth out one by one.”

He swallowed and looked down at his lap. The hand without the knife slammed through it clenched once more, and he worked a muscle in his jaw. “That kid… the one who attacked me earlier-”

“Rightfully so,” I cut in.

“There’s more to him than you know. Than _he_ knows. I recognized his face when I saw him. At first I couldn’t remember, but it’s because he’s so much older now.”

The Titan paused and I had to resist the urge to plant my foot in his ribs to get him to spit it the hell out. Hanji looked back at me, as if sensing my frustration, and nodded slightly to reassure me.

“I saw him when he was younger, training at the compound in the Capital.”

“The Military Police compound?” Hanji asked.

“No. The Titan Compound within the Capital’s walls. I was training there too.” He looked at Hanji, then to me. “He was a defective experiment. All Titans go through a certain operation at a young age to ensure that they’re the best of the best. It isn’t all just inherent skill. That guy took to the operation differently. It was supposed to enhance his reflexes and make him more susceptible to taking orders. Instead it made him… something else.”

I stepped forward so I was standing behind Hanji, arms crossed to keep me from hitting something. “Hang on. Are you telling me Eren is a Titan?”

“Not officially. But he underwent the experiment, so he has the qualities of a Titan. But for whatever reason it didn’t work for him. And he became a liability because of it.”

“And so you dumped an eight year old in an alley and abandoned him,” I finished. None of this information was easy to believe, but I put the rest together from what I knew about Eren. He’d been thrown away like trash and left to die alone. Figures it was all because of the damn capital. Bastards.

The Titan’s eyes grew wide and he shook his head slightly. “You don’t understand. Have you ever seen an eight year old murder someone?”

My blood ran cold at that, and Hanji looked back at me again. Her face said it all; she believed this guy.

“Eren Jaeger was the first Titan to not take to the experiment. Instead of making him more malleable to orders, it made him more prone to follow emotions. Specifically anger. The exact opposite of what it was supposed to do. We learned the hard way that it hadn’t worked. Afterwards the Titan in charge of him decided he was more trouble than he was worth and got rid him.”

Hanji looked as dumbstruck as I felt. The information matched up with what we already knew. Eren had been brought to the MP when he was 8, right after he was removed from the Capital. He was definitely on the more ruthless side of things, and that Titan at Jinae- Eren’s relative- had recognized him.

“What did Eren do that got him kicked out?” Hanji asked. Her hands were clenched at her sides.

The Titan’s beady black eyes searched both our faces, and his complexion actually blanched further. His adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and eventually he exhaled as he spoke.

“Eren killed five other agents. We never knew why, because all he said about it was ‘they deserved it’. He tried to kill his own father afterwards when they were removing him from the Capital.”

My head was full on reeling. He killed his own people? It wasn’t that hard to believe after what I’d seen him do, but he’d been eight for Christ’s sake. And _father_? Eren’s dad was a Titan?

I was about to ask when I was cut off by the deafening siren echoing down the hallway. The sound bounced around the room, and Hanji spun around to look at the bright red security light lit up above the door. The Titan looked smug suddenly, a surprising contrast to the feeble appearance he’d been working prior. Because of that I didn’t even have to ask what was going on. I already knew.

Molbit however figured he’d be the helpful assistant he always was and throw himself against the doorframe, gun in hand and panting. “It’s the Titan’s,” he said in a rush. “They’re here. They broke through.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...but i'm still an asshole. have another cliffhanger :^)  
>  my laptop charger legit broke as I was finally getting around to writing this and I had to wait a while for a new one to get shipped to me. i'll be back in the states in June so I can be more on top of updating then.  
> comments and kudos are ALWAYS appreciated. I like to know what you like/don't like so i can cater to the masses. and also let me know if there are any spelling errors so I can fix them.

**Author's Note:**

> more mafia!AU because there's never enough of those ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


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